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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


^ 


^J^'^.f^^^' 


SKTCTCH 


OF  TIIU 


LIFE  AND  WRITINGS 


OF 


A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.LLD, 

PROFESSOR  OF  ENGLISH   IN  RICHMOND  COLLEGE,  VIRGINIA. 
EDITED    BY 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  WM.  E.  HATCHER. 


WITH  ARTICLES  FROM 

IR.  JOHN   A.   ItROADUS,    TROF.  JOHN  HART,    DR.   H.   A.   TUPPER,    PROF.  C.    L.  COCKE,    DR.   J.   O. 

niDEN,  DR.  C.  TYREE,   PROF.  B.   PURYEAR,   LLD.,   DR.  J.  WM.  JONES,  DR.  W.  W.  LANDRUM, 

DR.  WM.  R.  VAUGHAN,    DR.  ANDREW   I3R0ADUS,   DK.  C.  H.  RYI-AND,   REV.  WM.  SLATE, 

DR.  J.  R.  TAYLOR,  MR.  STEIililNS,  COL.  T.  J.  EVANS,  PROF.  H.  H.  HARRLS,  MR.  W. 

C.   TYREE,   DK.   W.^r.   E.    HATCHER,   PROF.  O.   P.   HOLMES,   DR.  A.   E.   OWEN. 


HALTIMORE: 

II.  M.  WHARTON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

Nos.  12G  AND  128  W.  Baltimore  St. 
1886. 


COPYRIOIITKD,   ISSC,   BY    H.    M.    WllARTON   &    Co. 


^kJ  t 


PEEFAOE. 


The  reader  will  find  in  the  following  pages  a  simple  tribute 
iVora  a  loving  pupil  to  the  memory  of  a  departed  teacher.  They 
have  been  prepared  with  no  other  motive  than  to  embalm  some  of 
the  fragi'ant  influence,  and  preserve  some  of  the  solid  work  of  an 
eminent  Christian  and  scholar.  To  those  who  knew  him,  one  of 
his  greatest  charms  was  his  deep  interest  in  living  questions,  and 
his  incessant  activity  on  present  surroundings.  As  they  look 
back,  they  most  deeply  regret  that  this  very  habit  of  mind  pre- 
vented the  employment  of  his  pen  for  the  instruction  of  the 
future,  and  makes  his  literary  remains  few  and  meagre  in  com- 
parison with  the  powers  of  the  living  man. 

Socrates  wrote  nothing,  yet  his  influence  has  been  undying  and 
universal,  because  his  mantle  fell  upon  the  broad  shoulders  of  a 
riato,  who  was  not  a  little  helped  by  the  unpretending  memo- 
rabilia of  a  fellow-pupil,  the  practical  Xenophon.  If  this 
memoir  shall  help  to  bring  out  a  real  successor,  its  object  will 
have  been  accomplished. 

The  volume  has  grown  in  the  hands  of  the  compiler  far  beyond 
the  dimensions  of  her  original  purpose.  She  undertook  to  prepare 
a  brief  memorial  for  circulation  among  particuhir  friends.  When 
her  intention  was  made  known,  many  valuable  and  instructive 
contributions  were  received,  which  presented  in  different  lights  as 
many  striking  views  of  the  character  and  life  of  Dr.  Brown,  and 
it  has  been  no  easy  task  to  compress  this  wealth  of  material  into 
reasonable  limits.      This  fact   will   explain   also   the  somewhat 

iii 
-J  , —  ?■■»  r"=  -^  f^^ 


IV  PREFACE. 

peculiar  structure  of  the  book.  For  while  the  papers  furnished 
by  others  touch  the  life  they  portray  chiefly  at  certain  points,  not 
a  few  of  them  take  a  much  wider  range.  It  has  seemed  best  not 
to  sacrifice  the  integrity  of  these  tributes  to  the  demands  of  chro- 
nological order,  as  it  is  observed  in  the  biographical  sketch. 
Therefore  even  in  the  earlier  chapters  will  be  found  some  mention 
of  the  incidents  and  allusions  to  traits  that  belong  rather  to  the 
later  life. 

Of  the  sermons  and  addresses  it  should  be  said  that  Dr.  Brown, 
while  he  made  careful  preparation,  never  allowed  his  manuscript 
to  fetter  his  utterance,  and  rarely  wrote  out  for  print  what  he  had 
spoken.  Many  of  his  best  discourses  are  left  incomplete,  because 
he  safely  relied  upon  the  momentum  and  the  excitement  of  actual 
delivery,  and  the  sympathy  of  his  hearers,  to  make  a  stronger 
conclusion  and  one  better  adapted  to  the  occasion  than  he  could 
possibly  work  out  in  the  seclusion  of  his  study.  Such  of  them 
have  been  selected  as  were  in  the  best  condition  for  the  printers, 
and  have  been  given  just  as  he  left  them. 

It  remains  for  me  to  say  that  the  engagement  with  the  Publishers 

allowed  less  than  three  months  for  the  preparation  of  the  volume, 

and  even  this  short  time  has  been  seriously  curtailed  by  sickness 

in   the  household  over  which  the  com2)iler  presides.     It  would 

have  been  my  duty  and  pleasui'e  to  render  some  assistance,  but  a 

term  of  sickness  and  the  consequent  accumulation  of  other  work, 

have  left  me  opi^ortunity  to  do  no  more  than  assist  in  selecting 

and  editing  the  material  and  preparing  some  portions  of  the  later 

chapters. 

Wm.  E.  Hatcher. 


II^^TEODUOTOET. 


The  distiuguishing  glory  of  man  is  freedom.  He  possesses 
the  power  of  choice.  He  is  not  a  puppet,  performing  in  fixed 
grooves,  under  the  power  of  an  extraneous  force.  He  is 
endowed  with  those  gifts  which  render  it  possible  for  hira 
to  mould  his  own  character  and  shape  his  own  destiny.  This 
quality  constitutes  the  lordly  element  in  his  being.  And  it 
is  not  irreverent  to  say,  that  God  treats  it  Avith  the  most 
tender  respect.  In  all  of  His  transactions  with  men  He  never 
ignores  their  wills.  He  imposes  no  duty  which  they  cannot 
choose  to  perform,  and  accepts  no  service  unwillingly  given. 

When  in  His  authority  God  prescribes  a  law,  it  is  exactly 
fitted  to  human  freedom.  If  we  turn  to  His  word,  we  find 
that  He  delights  to  teach  His  creatures  by  example.  He 
throws  out  before  them,  men  of  like  passions  with  themselves, 
whose  lives  are  illuminated  with  gleams  of  His  own  perfec- 
tions. When  He  would  set  before  the  world  a  new  edition 
of  the  Law,  He  embodied  it  in  the  life  of  a  person,  the  Son 
of  God. 

Nothing  is  so  ennobling  as  the  contemplation  of  lofty 
character.  Its  subtle  influence  radiates  in  every  possible 
direction:  but  he  who  would  receive  most  of  its  self-perpet- 
uating spirit,  must  put  himself  in  contact  with  it. 

Common  origin,  common  interests  and  a  common  end,  serve 

V 


VI  INTRODUCTORY. 

to  unite  mankind  in  a  brotherhood.  The  eternal  bands  are 
around  all,  binding  them  closer  and  closer  together.  There 
was  a  period  in  the  world's  history,  long  after  the  time  that 
humanity  meant  a  pair,  when  the  parts  were  diverse  and 
far  removed  from  each  other.  But  the  quickening  steps  of 
civilization  and  religion  have  made  them  touch  elbows  in  tliis 
great  march  of  development. 

Once  the  thoughts  of  great  men  were  entombed  in  languages 
unknown  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  like  the  buried  glories  of  a 
Pompeii — now  the  bursts  of  eloquence  of  an  inspired  speaker 
may  flasli  athwart  continents  in  a  day — even  his  very  voice 
may  be  transmitted  to  remote  sections,  if  not  preserved  for 
future  hearers.  The  connection  between  one  nation  and 
anotlicr,  between  one  man  and  another,  is  most  intimate.  Not 
more  so,  is  the  vital  relation  in  the  material  body  by  which 
one  part  is  brought  iu  contact  with  all  its  powers,  by  means 
of  the  delicate  tracery  of  nervous  organisms.  One  part  or 
another  is  important  in  the  universal  like  the  material  body, 
in  proportion  as  it  influences  the  whole. 

It  is  only  the  one  who  outstrips  the  others,  the  advance 
guard,  who  is  worthy  the  attention  of  the  student  of  nature 
and  ai't. 

Some  there  are  like  diamonds  in  the  rough  who,  on  account 
of  certain  adverse  surroundings,  were  never  set  in  the  kingly 
diadems  that  they  might  have  adorned ;  and  to  history  it 
becomes  a  pleasing  task  to  catcli  up  the  spirit  of  their  lives, 
and  the  productions  of  their  genius,  to  crystallize  them  into 
enduring  form. 


INTRODUCTORY.  vii 

History  has  been  often  called  "  Philosophy  teaching  by 
example."  Every  reader  who  at  all  comprehended  the  genius 
of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  will  see  at  once,  his  likeness 
in  the  definition.  Whether  he  be  regarded  as  the  man  with 
his  splendid  native  endowments;  or  the  man  with  his  great 
acquisitions  gained  by  close  research,  and  acute  analytical 
processes,  he  is  in  every  sense  a  philosopher  and  a  Christian 
philosopher  as  well;  for  Bacon  says  "the  roads  to  religion 
and  true  philosophy  are  identical ;  as  the  noblest  powers  of 
man  have  to  be  employed  in  both." 

In  his  character  he  stands  forth  a  man  nobly  planned,  and 
nobly  developed — and  as  such,  he  was  in  some  sense  the 
resultant  of  the  various  forces  that  were  brought  to  bear  on 
him— and  a  fiictor  as  well  in  the  mighty  temple  that  time 
erects;  just  as  every  effect  is  the  result  of  two  or  more 
causes,  and  is  itself  one  of  the  causes  of  other  effects. 

By  what  processes  did  he  reach  his  elevation  ?  What  were 
the  influences  he  put  in  motion?  What  did  he  do  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind?  These  are  pertinent  questions,  which 
will  be  discussed  iu  the  following  pages. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Preface, iii 


Introductory, v 

CHAPTER  I. 
Those  That  Went  Before, 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
His  Childhood  Home, 15 

CHAPTER  HI. 
The  Mountain  Boy, 21 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Entering  the  Harvest, 55 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Hampton  Pastor, 74 


pac;e. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Hrs  WoKK  IN  Charlottesville, 107 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Days  of  War, 155 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Country  Pastor, 180 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  College  Professor, 227 

CHAPTER  X. 
His  Death, 202 

His  Character, 291 


LIFE  AND  WKITINGS 


A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THOSE  THAT  WENT  BEFORE. 

OO  deeply  rooted  in  the  human  mind  is  the  con- 
^  viction  that  talent  is  transmitted,  that  the 
presence  of  it  in  an  individual  is  at  once  the  signal 
for  a  search  for  its  origin,  in  his  ancestry. 

Abram  Burwell  Brown  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Martin  Brown  and  Belinda  Seay. 

Of  the  genealogy  of  his  father,  little  is  known. 
Sufficient  information  has  been  gotten,  however,  to 
establish  the  fact  that,  for  generations,  the  Browns 
have  been  noted  for  their  intellectual  ability  and 
love  of  learning. 

The  grandfiither,  Jeremiah  Brown,  was  a  Revo- 
lutionary soldier,  of  English  descent ;  was  born  in 
Stafford,  lived  in  Culpeper  and  Fauquier  Counties, 
till  the  begiiniing  of  this  century,  when  he  moved 

A 


lU  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BKOWX,  DD.LLD. 

to  Amherst,  where  he  resided  till  his  death,  in 
1846,  having  attained  to  the  age  of  ninety  3'ears. 
He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  named 
Jane  Kirk ;  and  their  children  were  named  Willis, 
Thomas  Fielding,  Elizabeth,  Joseph  and  Martin, 
the  father  of  A.  B.  Brown. 

Jeremiah  Brown,  and  all  of  his  children  were 
apt  and  eager  to  learn,  and  distinguished  for  their 
retentive  memories.  Elizabeth  won  for  herself  the 
soubriquet  of  Macaulay,  on  account  of  her  wonder- 
ful memory,  and  power  of  delineating  character. 
Joseph  was  a  gentleman  of  scholarly  habits — 
devoted  to  reading  and  a  charming  conversa- 
tionalist. He  was  a  popular  citizen  and  an  earnest 
Baptist.  Martin  was  perhaps  the  most  gifted  of 
this  family. 

On  the  maternal  side,  A.  B.  Brown  was  de- 
scended from  the  Huguenots.  His  great-great- 
grandfather, Abram  Seay,  for  whom  he  was  named, 
was  born  in  France,  went  to  England  to  escape 
the  persecution  of  the  Catholics,  and  afterwards 
emigrated  to  Virginia. 

In  order  to  trace,  with  minuteness,  the  influ- 
ences of  heredity,  it  seems  fitting  that  we  look 
for  a  moment,  at  the  religious  and  politicfd  con- 
dition of  the  country,  from  which  this  ancestor 
sprang. 


THOSE  THAT  WENT  BEFORE.  11 

The  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  witnessed 
the  beginning  of  religious  toleration  in  Europe. 
Prior  to  this,  barring  the  revolt  of  Henry  VIII., 
the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  had  been  absolute 
and  unlimited.  But  the  clarion  notes  of  Luther 
had  rung  throughout  Germany,  and  echoed 
through  the  other  countries,  till  converts  to 
the  reform  faith  were  numbered,  from  "Finland 
to  tlie  Alps,  and  Iceland  to  the  Pyrenees."  The 
long-suppressed  desire  for  freedom  of  conscience 
had  voiced  itself,  in  the  valiant  defenders  of  the 
new  faith,  till  the  whole  country  threatened  to 
be  Protestant. 

The  Pope,  realizing  the  decay  of  his  power, 
called  on  the  crowned  heads,  to  suppress  the 
religious  reformers.  Everywhere  was  confusion, 
disorder,  and  often  violence.  Under  the  wise 
rulings  of  Elizabeth,  in  England,  the  opposing 
parties  were  kept  in  abeyance,  and  for  a  long- 
while  afterwards  it  was  a  safe  asylum  for  Pro- 
testant exiles.  In  France,  where  Calvin  had 
been  busy  propagating  the  new  doctrines,  great 
numbers  became  converts,  among  them,  many  of 
the  nobility.  Here  was  the  scene  of  the  direst 
conflicts.  Religious  controversy  culminated  in 
civil  war — the  Protestants  being  the  Huguenots, 
and  the  Catholics  the  Guises.     Here  the  wicked 


12  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Catharine  de  Medicis  —  the  queen-mother,  the 
mention  of  whose  name  sullies  the  pen  that  re- 
cords it,  as  it  blanches  the  cheek  of  modern 
womanhood — resolved  to  exterminate  the  Protes- 
tants at  one  blow,  and  having  summoned  them  to 
Paris  to  attend  a  ^vedding  feast,  had  the  tocsin 
sounded,  that  was  the  signal  for  the  general  mas- 
sacre, which  sent  seventy  thousand  souls  into 
eternity  in  one  night;  and  all  this  under  the 
guise  of  religion. 

Not  very  long  after,  there  went  out  from  France 
to  Protestant  England  a  young  man,  Abram  Seay, 
a  Huguenot,  a  scion  of  nobility,  of  culture  and 
means. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  uj)heaval  caused 
by  the  Reformation,  literature  had  steadily  ad- 
vanced in  England,  and  to  come  within  her  bor- 
ders was  to  feel  her  quickening  touch. 

After  the  turbulent  passions  of  the  Protestants 
and  Catholics  subsided,  differences  as  to  mode  of 
worship  sprung  up  between  the  Protestants  them- 
selves, which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  party 
called  Puritans,  or  those  who  desired  to  be  purer 
and  simpler.  Rather  than  submit  to  forced  regu- 
lations of  worship  against  their  convictions,  they 
set  out  on  the  high  seas,  for  a  home  in  the  great 
West,  where  they  might  enjoy  perfect  liberty  of 
conscience. 


THOSE  THAT  WENT  BEFORE.  13 

Abram  Seay  and  his  wife,  formerly  a  Miss  Wil- 
son, with  their  three  sons,  Abram,  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  with  thousands  of  others  who  during  those 
years  flocked  to  these  shores,  sailed  for  the  land 
named  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Queen.  A  trust- 
worthy tradition  informs  us  that  this  high-spirited 
old  Huguenot,  out  of  his  ample  means,  purchased 
homes  for  his  three  sons  near  the  James  River. 
The  home  of  Abram,  the  eldest  of  the  sons,  was 
in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  and  was  known  as 
the  Cove.     He  married  a  Miss  Loving. 

Joseph  Seay,  a  grandson  of  Abram,  the  Hu- 
guenot, owned  a  handsome  property  on  the  James, 
near  Tye  River.  He  married  a  Miss  Annie  Harvey 
— an  English  lady  who,  so  far  as  can  be  know^n, 
was  the  first  Baptist  in  the  large  circle  of  the  Seay 
family.  It  is  worth  while  here  to  say  that  her 
Baptist  convictions  were  very  strong,  and  slie 
sought  to  win  the  family  to  their  adoption.  While 
unsuccessful  in  making  Baptists  of  her  own  chil- 
dren, she  has  a  reward  for  her  fidelity,  in  the 
magnificent  Baptist  character  of  her  grandchil- 
dren. One  of  the  daughters  of  Joseph  Seay,  was 
Belinda.  She  was  the  mother  of  A.  B.  Brown, 
and  he  honored  her  memory,  by  bestowing  the 
same  name  on  his  eldest  daughter. 

Abram  Seay,  having  brought  with  him,  to  this 


14  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

country,  the  native  refinements  in  wliicli  he  had 
been  reared,  and  the  intellectual  quickening  he 
received  in  England,  instilled  in  his  posterity 
high  aims  and  aspirations. 

The  discerning  reader,  will  not  fail  to  perceive 
in  the  descendant  of  this  Frenchman,  as  his 
characteristics  will  be  delineated,  the  high-strung, 
nervous  temperament,  the  hot  blood,  the  high 
gentlemanly  instincts  peculiar  to  the  real  French 
nobleman. 

The  descendants  of  Abram  Seay,  are  scattered 
through  the  counties  of  Nelson,  Amherst  and 
Fluvanna,  and  form  a  part  of  the  honored  yeo- 
manry of  the  land — respected  for  their  thrift, 
intelligence  and  piety. 

Joseph  Seay,  the  grandfather  of  A.  B,  Brown, 
was  a  man  of  talents  and  culture.  He  w^as  a 
teacher,  the  most  of  his  life.  He  educated  his 
children  and  many  of  his  grandchildren.  He  and 
his  wife  outlived  several  of  their  children,  and 
took  two  sets  of  grandchildren,  to  train  and  to 
educate.  He  fought  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  died 
in  1845,  having  reached  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  15 


CHAPTER   II. 

HIS   CHILDHOOD  HOME. 

rpHE  eastern  slope  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains 
-*-  in  Virginia,  embracing  the  counties  of  Nelson, 
Amherst  and  Bedford,  has  been  regarded  for  gene- 
rations, as  the  most  fertile  spot  for  the  birth  of 
Baptist  preachers.  The  simple  habits,  honest 
purposes  and  pure  lives  of  the  inhabitants,  to- 
gether with  the  inspiration  that  comes  from  the 
beholding  of  the  subhme  in  nature,  conspire  to 
produce  this  result.  The  belief  that  the  grandeur 
of  natural  phenomena  tends  to  the  elevation  and 
expansion  of  the  powers  of  man,  is  not  simply  a 
poetic  idea,  but  an  established  truth.  A  soul 
brought  into  habitual  communion  with  God  in 
nature — ^rvdio  has  the  spiritual  discernment  to 
interpret     Him — will    be,    in    the    language    of 

another, 

"  Haunted  forever  by  the  Divine  mind," 

and  so  cannot  be  utterlj^  debased  in  life. 

In  a  farm-house  on  the  mountain-side,  near  a 
dashing  stream  called  Allen's  Creek,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  was  born.     He  was  the  eldest  of  a 


16  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

family  of  five  children.  A  look  witliin  the  walls 
of  that  quiet  country  home  reveals  to  us  first  the 
father,  Martin  Brown,  and  his  wife,  Belinda,  nee 
Seay,  and  five  children,  viz.,  Abram,  Joseph, 
James,  Margaret  and  Thomas. 

The  father,  Martin  Brown,  was  a  man  of  limited 
education,  but  of  good  talents,  ambitious  spirit  and 
pure  life.  He  was  specially  gifted  in  lively  wit 
and  brilliant  repartee.  His  devotion  to  his  chil- 
dren was  very  marked,  and  he  struggled  hard,  in 
the  face  of  untoward  circumstances,  to  elevate 
them.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  reading,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  exciting  in  his  children  a  love  of  study 
that  made  all  of  them  attain  to  some  degree  of 
intellectual  excellence. 

In  one  of  his  addresses  Dr.  Brown  said,  "  My 
father  loved  learning  and  he  loved  me,  and  so  he 
made  many  sacrifices  to  give  me  educational  ad- 
vantages." The  schools  accessible  were  few  and 
poor.  This  country,  so  young  and  untried,  had  not 
long  laid  aside  its  swaddling  clothes.  The  early 
colonists,  having  secured  their  release  from  Eng- 
lish rule,  had  begun  to  build  up  an  independency 
worthy  of  their  best  endeavors;  but  the  process 
was  slow.  Material  interests  had  to  precede  in- 
tellectual, forests  had  to  be  felled,  houses  built 
and  mechanical  interests  encouraged,  before  much 


IIIS  CHILDHOOD  JIOME.  17 

impetus  could  be  given  to  literary  pursuits.  By 
many,  a  common  English  education  was  all  that 
was  deemed  necessary  for  one  Avho  did  not  expect 
to  teach,  and  so  high  intellectual  advancement 
was  exceptional. 

In  the  quiet  country  home,  there  were  no  child's 
boolcs ;  only  the  weekly  newspapers,  Avliich  were 
like  the  Acta  Diurna  of  earlier  days.  It  is  said 
that  Abram,  at  a  very  early  age,  loved  to  read  the 
newspapers  and  the  political  addresses  of  the  day. 
His  reading  was  better  suited  to  mature  minds. 
He  was  often  sent  for,  to  read  the  papers  to  the 
neighboring  farmers.  He  once  said  to  a  friend 
that  in  his  boyhood,  he  got  a  better  idea  of  the 
condition  of  the  country  by  reading  the  advertise- 
ments in  the  papers,  than  in  any  other  way — that 
from  them,  he  learned  both  the  demands  and  the 
supplies  of  the  people.  With  such  a  thirst  for 
knowledge  as  he  possessed,  it  was  an  easy  matter 
to  extract  it  from  surroundings. 

Although  his  mother  died  when  he  was  so 
young,  yet  she  lived  long  enough  to  make  an 
ineffaceable  impression  on  her  first-born.  It  is 
said  that  the  knowledge  that  a  child  gains  in  the 
first  seven  or  eight  j^ears  of  his  life  is  far  in  excess 
of  that  gained  in  all  the  after-life.  Cowley,  in 
speaking  of  the   influences  of  early  life  on  the 


18  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

heart  and  mind  of  the  child,  says,  "  It  is  like 
carving  j-our  name  on  a  young  tree,  which  widens 
as  the  tree  grows."  The  mother  is  the  first 
teacher,  and  if  she  does  well  her  duty,  there  is  no 
power  on  earth  that  can  blot  out  the  memory-  of 
it.  The  mother  of  A.  B.  Brown  was  said  to  be 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  her  day. 
She  was  also  intelligent  and  pious.  All  through 
life  he  could  seldom  speak  of  her  without  tears. 
H^  ever  reverenced  her  memory  and  spoke  of  her 
with  peculiar  pleasure.  The  influence  of  a  good 
and  wise  mother  is  illimitable.  Some  learned 
man  has  described  a  good  mother  as  nature's  clief- 
iTcxmvre.  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  said  he 
would  have  been  an  atheist  but  for  the  remem- 
brance of  his  mother's  teaching  him  the  Lord's 
Praj^er.  What  might  not  Byron  have  been,  with 
his  splendid  poAvers  under  the  tutelage  of  a  good 
and  wise  mother?  Could  the  son  of  a  woman 
who  died  in  a  fit  of  anger  at  an  upholsterer's  bill 
do  otherwise  than  give  loose  rein  to  passions  as 
she  did. 

The   following    sketch   was   found    among    Dr. 
Brown's  papers  : 

"  I  was  born  in  Amherst  County,  Virginia,  on  October 
20th,  1821.      ISIy  father,  quite  poor  at  tlie  time  of  my 


HIS  CHILDHOOD  HOME.  19 

birth,  slowly  accumulatcHl  property,  most  of  which,  how- 
ever, he  lost  by  reverses  before  the  education  of  his  family 
was  completed.  He  was  sober  and  industrious,  of  sparkling 
wit,  eminently  genial  and  companionable,  and  more  self- 
sacrificiugly  devoted  to  the  preferment  of  his  children  than 
any  other  man  I  ever  knew.  My  mother  was  thrifty  and  of 
that  dexterity  and  skill  in  household  arts  in  which  the  par- 
tiality of  her  children  could  discover  the  marks  of  genius. 
Seate<l  by  her  side,  I  learned  to  count  and  learned  my 
letters." 

The  death  of  his  mother,  occurring  when  he 
was  eleven  years  old,  caused  a  breaking  up,  of  the 
once  happy  but  short-lived  home  circle.  All  the 
children,  except  Abram,  went  to  live  at  the  home 
of  their  grandfather,  Joseph  Seay,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  that  household  were  never  united  again 
under  the  paternal  roof.  The  grandfather  Seay, 
who  w^as  a  teacher  of  considerable  ability,  taught 
the  little  ones  who  had  come  into  his  home,  while 
Abram  staid  at  the  old  place,  the  sole  companion 
of  his  father,  and  went  to  school  to  the  best 
teachers  in  the  neighborhood.  Without  the  com- 
panionship of  brothers  and  sister  in  his  home  life, 
he  had  recourse  to  reading  works  of  high  order  of 
merit,  that  he  found  on  the  shelves  of  the  family 
library.  His  father,  discerning  in  him  the  marks 
of  genius,  and  being  so  ambitious  for  him  to  im- 


20  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

prove  his  talents,  kept  him  at  school  till  he  was 
17  years  of  age,  when  he  began  to  teach.  It  is 
believed  that  he  never  did  any  work  on  the  farm. 
His  physical  constitution,  in  consequence  of  his 
Avant  of  exercise  in  the  open  air,  did  not  develop 
and   keep  pace  with  his  mental. 

The  father,  so  devoted  to  learning,  and  with  no 
mean  qualifications  himself,  kept  his  children  con- 
stantl\-  at  school.  All  of  them  were  gifted,  and 
inherited  or  imbibed  the  father's  love  of  books. 
James  Brown,  who  was  thought  by  some  to  have 
eq«al  talent  with  Abram,  and  might  have  been 
equally  distinguished  if  he  had  had  the  same  tastes, 
was  a  physician  and  a  county  treasurer  in  Bed- 
ford. A  few  years  ago  he  moved  West,  and  died 
soon  after  reaching  his  new  home,  with  disease  of 
the  lungs.  Margaret,  the  only  sister,  died  at  the 
age  of  18  years.  Joseph  distinguished  himself  as 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
Thomas,  who  lives  now  near  the  old  home,  is  a 
farmer  of  decided  literary  taste  and  ability.  It 
is  said  that  in  after-life,  when  the  brothers 
would  visit  each  other,  they  would  spend  the  time 
together  discussing  books  and  theses  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  common-place  topics.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  family  with  as  much  literary 
taste. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  21 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    MOUNTAIN    BOY. 

TN  the  old  mountain  home,  young  Brown  had  no 
-^  sister  or  mother  to  care  for  him.  He  felt  sadly 
the  need  of  them.  An  aunt  kindly  looked  after 
his  wearing  apparel,  and  kept  it  in  order  for  him. 
He  used  to  say  that  he  was  very  happy  when  he 
begun  to  make  money  for  himself,  so  that  he  could 
buy  his  own  clothes;  that  those  made  for  him 
were  always  too  large — made  "  so  that  he  could 
grow  to  them ;  "  and,  as  he  would  tell  of  it,  and 
laugh  in  his  characteristic  way,  he  would  continue 
the  story,  saying,  "  but  I  never  grew  to  them." 
His  separation  from  society  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity for  fostering  those  habits  of  reflection,  Avliich 
drew  out  to  their  highest,  the  powers  of  his  soul. 
With  the  majestic  old  mountains  around  him,  fill- 
ing his  soul  with  emotions  of  grandeur  and  with 
love  for  the  Maker,  his  spirit,  quickened  and  ele- 
vated, reveled  in  mental  and  spiritual  delights. 

He  next  tells  of  his  teachers  : 

"  In  my  eighth  year  I  was  sent  to  school.     Most  of  the 
teachers  of  my  boyhood  and  youth  were  intelligent  and 


22  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

conscientious,  but  immature  young  men.  Yet  I  was  much 
more  indebted  to  these  than  to  one  or  two  of  greater  expe- 
rience. James  B.  Davidson,  then  himself  a  mere  tyro, 
afterwards  a  very  successful  teacher  in  Southwest  Virginia, 
so  taught  me  spelling  and  reading  in  one  year  that  any 
improvement  since  made  has  been  without  conscious  effort. 
The  next  year  he  imbedded  Murray's  grammar  in  my 
memory  for  future  uses.  Edwin  T.  Ellett,  in  teaching  me 
Latin  in  my  twelfth  year,  incidentally  utilized  my  previous 
acquirements  in  English,  and  made  me  as  good  a  gramma- 
rian as  I  ever  became  till  I  was  introduced,  in  middle  life, 
to  the  more  rational  and  logical  methods  of  Kiihner, 
Greene  and  Mulligan.  This  able  and  efficient  teacher,  in 
two  years,  so  thoroughly  grounded  me  in  the  Latin  forms 
and  syntax,  and  so  carefully  trained  me  in  translation,  that 
subsequent  improvement  was  the  easy  result  of  continued 
practice  and  increasing  mental  development." 

It  is  said  by  his  ftimily  that  he  never  studied 
arithmetic  at  school  more  than  a  few  months — 
having  ciphered  through  Pike's  Arithmetic  when 
he  was  ten  years  old.  Being  foremost  in  all  his 
classes  at  school,  he  was  frequently  called  on  by 
the  boys  to  work  their  examples  for  them.  If  he 
declined,  they  would  taunt  him  by  saying  :  "  It  is 
just  because  you  don't  know  how ;  you  can't  do 
it."  And  at  that  he  would  yield  to  their  wishes, 
and  solve  their  examples  for  them,  lest  he  might 
be    accused    ol"    incapacity.      He   was    a   sort   of 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  23 

assistant  teacher.  He  contracted  a  fondness  for 
teaching  then,  that  grew  with  his  years.  He 
always  managed  to  have  some  one  near  to  instruct. 
He  frequently  made  allusions  to  the  fact  quoted 
above,  that  he  committed  to  memory  what  he 
didn't  understand.  In  questioning  the  wisdom  of 
such  teaching,  he  would  say,  "  but  when  after- 
wards I  became  old  enough  to  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  the  text,  it  was  right  there  in  my  mind 
for  use." 

The  teacher  that  he  makes  mention  of,  that 
taught  him  the  languages,  was  a  Frenchman, 
named  Cruiseau,  probably  a  connection  of  the 
family.  We  know  that  he  taught  at  different 
times  in  Nelson  and  Amherst,  and  that  Mr.  Brown 
followed  him  up,  studying  under  him  while  he 
taught.  He  was  regarded  as  a  fine  linguist,  and  a 
better  teacher  than  one  could  usually  find  in  the 
rural  districts.  To  this  rudimentary  knowledge  of 
the  languages  of  Latin,  French  and  Greek,  that  he 
gained  early  in  life,  he  was  constantly  adding.  It 
has  been  said  that  a  mind  that  has  early  been 
trained  in  the  forms  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  evi- 
dences it  ever  afterwards  in  the  complexion  of  its 
productions.  He  was  no  advocate  for  specialists. 
He  pleaded  for  broad  and  deep  foundations  and 
massive  structures  above. 


24  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  i)D.  LLD. 

Below  is  a  coiitinuation  of  the  autobiographical 
sketch  : 

"  Having  added  to  my  acquirements  a  little  Greek, 
rather  more  French,  a  larger  complement  of  geometry  and 
a  meagre  scantling  of  other  mathematics,  I  commenced 
teaching  school  early  in  my  18th  year.  Up  to  this  time  I 
had  not  known  what  it  was  to  be  a  student;  but,  ambi- 
tious to  show  myself  competent  to  what  I  had  undertaken, 
subjected  my  mind  to  intense  effort.  And  it  was  better 
for  me,  perhaps,  than  for  my  pupils,  that  some  of  them 
were  trying  to  learn  Latin,  Greek  and  French.  Unfor- 
tunately, I  divided  my  leisure  hours  between  preparation 
for  my  classes  and  the  study  of  law, — a  study  which  was 
not  indeed  wholly  thrown  away,  but  a  study  for  which  I 
Wiis  poorly  prepared,  and  which  was  little  related  to  my 
future  pursuits." 

An  incident  is  related  by  Rev.  Mr.  Wm.  Tyree, 
who  obtained  it  from  his  father,  the  intimate 
friend  of  Dr.  Brown,  that  illustrates  his  mental 
ability  at  this  period  of  his  life.     He  says, — 

"  \yhcn  a  mere  boy  he  and  a  young  companion  (Mr.  Wm. 
Tyree)  \valkcd  to  I^iynchburgh  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
General  Association.  I'lic  two  youths,  who  had  not  often 
been  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  county,  were  of  course 
anxious  to  see  all  that  could  be  seen.  Walking  down  the 
street  one  evening,  as  they  pa.ssed  the  Catholic  Church, 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  25 

the  door  was  open  and  in  they  walked.  The  priest 
happened  to  be  in  the  church  at  the  time  preparing  for 
some  service.  After  looking  around,  Mr.  Brown's  eye 
was  attracted  to  a  picture  under  which  there  was  a 
historical  quotation.  In  a  moment  the  thorough  know- 
ledge of  history,  which  he  acquired  from  various  sources, 
enabled  him,  as  he  thought,  to  detect  error  in  the  quota- 
tion; so,  unawed  by  the  sanctified  air  of  the  priest,  he 
walked  up  to  him,  and  said  the  statement  was  false. 
The  priest,  judging  him  by  his  personal  appearance,  at 
first  seemed  to  think  him  impertinent,  as  well  as  ignorant, 
to  presume  to  question  the  correctness  of  such  authority, 
even  in  the  presence  of  his  majesty;  but  he  soon  found 
that  the  lad,  awkward  and  ignorant  as  he  supposed,  was 
more  than  his  equal,  not  only  in  historical  information, 
but  in  logic  as  well,  and  soon  left  him  and  resumed  his 
official  duties." 

Those  who  were  intimately  associated  with  him 
at  this  period  of  his  Hfe,  say  that  he  gave  evidence 
of  great  mental  power.  Very  modestly,  he  says  of 
himself  that  he  had  not  learned  to  study  till  he 
began  to  teach.  He  may  not  have  been  engaged 
in  such  close  analytical  and  synthetical  processes 
as  he  afterwards  subjected  himself  to,  in  studying 
a  subject,  but  he  had  read  widely,  and  on  deep 
and  abstruse  themes,  such  as  a  boy  of  his  age 
would  have  passed  by.  At  that  time  he  read  and 
committed   to   memory   much    of    the   poetry  of 


26  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

standard  authors.  He  hardly  knew  the  time 
when  he  did  not  know  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake," 
some  verses  of  which,  commencing, 

"  I  Httle  tliouglit  when  first  thy  rein 
T  sku-ked  upon  the  banks  of  Seine, 
That  liighkiud  eagle  e'er  should  feed 
On  thy  fleet  limbs,  my  matchless  steed. 
Wo'  worth  the  chase,  wo'  worth  the  day 
That  cost  thy  life,  my  gallant  gray," 

he  loved  frequently  to  repeat  to  his  family  around 
the  hearth-stone. 

He  writes  of  his  teaching,  and  of  his  hard 
studying  while  a  mere  boy,  and  of  his  reading- 
law.  He  did  not  write  of  his  spiritual  condition 
at  this  time,  and  perhaps  it  were  as  well  to  omit 
any  account  of  it ;  l^ut  for  the  sake  of  truth  and 
honesty,  and  without  any  real  damage  to  char- 
acter, it  must  be  recorded  that  he  came  near  being 
an  atheist.  This  is  not  remarkable  when  we  con- 
sider that  honest  doubt  is  the  vestibule  to  the 
house  of  faith  ;  that  a  state  of  uncertainty  is  often 
the  condition  and  sign  of  investigation.  One  has 
often  to  look  around  to  find  the  true  path.  He 
doubted  for  a  while,  but  it  was  only  the  dark- 
ness before  the  dawning  of  the  day-star  of 
Hope.    When   it   did    appear,    it   was    in    all   its 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  27 

effulgence — a  real,  glowing  sun,  and  it  never 
declined.  What  he  gained  by  investigation,  he 
held  to  as  real  truth. 

He  made  a  profession  of  religion  while  boarding 
in  an  Episcopal  family,  w^here  he  taught  school. 
He  joined  their  church,  and  took  deacon's  orders 
with  a  view  to  the  ministry.  His  father  and 
mother  were  both  Methodists.  He  said  he  felt  it 
to  be  his  duty  before  preaching  the  peculiar  doc- 
trines of  the  church  to  examine  into  the  scriptural- 
ness  of  them,  and  the  result  was  he  became  a 
Baptist.  If  any  book  beside  the  Bible  helped  him 
to  a  change  of  faith,  it  was  Dr.  Carson's  work  on 
Baptism.  He  entertained  such  a  high  opinion  of 
the  work  and  man,  that  afterwards  he  named  his 
first-born  in  honor  of  him.  During  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  subject,  he  had  frequent  interviews  with 
Dr.  Rice,  a  minister  w^liom  he  loved  and  revered 
all  through  life,  and  who  took  a  pleasing  part  in 
his  ordination.  It  was  a  sad  coincidence  that  Dr. 
Rice  preceded  him  to  the  grave  by  only  a  few 
months,  and  at  the  time  his  last  sickness  com- 
menced he  was  planning  a  biographical  sketch  of 
his  old  pastor. 

It  has  not  been  easy  to  determine  exactly  at 
what  point  in  his  life  Mr.  Brown  changed  his 
church  relationship.     I  incline  to  the  opinion  that 


28  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

it  occurred  after  his  return  from  Washington  Col- 
lege. Concerning  his  connection  with  that  insti- 
tution, I  find  this  graphic  and  comprehensive 
statement  in  his  papers, — 

"  I  entered  Washington  College  at  an  advanced  stage  of 
the  session  of  1840  and  1841,  prosecuted  with  great  inten- 
sity Greek  and  Mathematics,  and  felt  with  perhaps  equal 
benefit  the  quickening  contact  of  ingenuous  and  gifted 
young  minds." 

And  this  closes  the  only  sketch  of  his  life  writ- 
ten by  himself  that  can  be  found. 

An  honored  friend  and  fellow-countyman,  (Dr. 
C.  Tyree),  one  who  ranks  among  the  foremost  of 
Virginia's  distinguished  ministers,  furnishes  us  the 
following,  which,  beginning  at  this  j^eriod  of  his 
life,  gives  some  interesting  facts  : 

"In  the  year  1840  the  writer  of  this  sketch  first 
became  acquainted  with  A.  B.  Brown,  while  assist- 
ing Dr.  Rice  in  a  series  of  meetings  at  Mt.  Moriah. 
Although  raised  in  an  adjoining  neighborhood,  it 
was  not  till  these  meetings,  that  this  writer  became 
acquainted  with  him.  While  teaching  school  in 
the  family  of  William  M.  Waller,  a  prominent  and 
wealthy  gentleman  of  Amherst,  he  had  joined  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  an 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  29 

attendant  on  the  ministry  of  Dr.  S.  R.  Rice,  at 
Mt.  Moriah  Baptist  Church.  In  this  church  there 
was  a  large  number  of  intelligent  men ;  among 
these  were  such  as  John  W.  Broaddus,  Benjamin 
Taliaferro,  Dr.  Gibson  and  others.  These  Baptists 
were  more  the  social  and  religious  companions  of 
vouno-  Brown,  than  the  members  of  his  own  church, 
for  the  latter  Avere  few  and  far  between.  Hence, 
whether  from  intercourse  with  these  intelligent 
and  kind  Baptists  and  their  pastor.  Dr.  Rice,  or 
from  his  own  independent  investigations,  we  know 
not — likely  from  both — Mr.  Brown  became  a 
Baptist,  and  was,  to  the  joy  of  the  Baptist  and 
disappointment  of  his  Episcopal  friends,  baptized 
into  the  fellowship  of  Mt.  Moriah  Church  by  Dr. 
Rice. 

"  He  was  then  regarded  as  one  of  the  brightest 
and  best  j^oung  men  in  his  county ;  hence  his 
accession  to  the  Baptists  was  considered  a  triumph. 
In  after  years,  Brother  Brown  gave  interesting 
accounts  of  the  argument  that  the  Episcopal 
minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Caldwell,  would  present  to  him 
for  the  scripturalness  of  infant  baptism,  and  for 
sprinkling  as  a  mode  of  baptism  ;  and  how  he  and 
the  clear-headed  Rice  would  refute  these  specious 
pleas  for  these  human  innovations.  It  was,  we 
think,  after  this  noble  young  man  became  a  Bap- 


30  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

tist,  that  he  became  a  student  at  the  University  of 
Virginia.  We  do  not  know  how  long  he  remained 
in  our  great  State  college,  nor  what  precise  science 
he  studied  while  there,  but  we  do  know  that  it 
was  in  this  noble  institution  he  mainly  laid  the 
foundation  for  his  future  eminence  as  a  scholar, 
educator  and  preacher.  It  was  here,  more  than 
elsewhere,  he  acquired  his  habit  of  strong,  unique 
thinking. 

"It  was  about  this  time,  the  Mt.  Moriah  Church 
licensed  him  to  preach,  after  which  he  frequently 
l^reached  to  his  own,  and  other  surrounding  Bap- 
tist Churches.  His  first  pulpit  efforts  gave  no 
very  promising  warrant  of  the  eminence,  to  which 
he  attained,  as  a  preacher.  His  person  was  un- 
attractive, his  gestures  awkward  and  inappro- 
priate, his  voice  abrupt  and  inharmonious  and  his 
enunciation  indistinct.  The  first  acknowledged 
proof  of  his  strength  of  mind,  was  an  address  on 
Foreign  Missions,  made  before  the  church  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  and  the  more  discerning  of  his 
brethren  saw  in  his  first  sermons,  intimations  of 
his  future  greatness. 

"In  the  estimation  of  all,  his  Christian  character 
was  of  a  high  order.  He  was  singularly  free 
from  vanity  and  over  self-valuation.  Other  young 
preachers  of  less  learning  and    intellect,  arose  at 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  31 

once  to  distinction,  by  the  helpful  adjuncts  of 
good  voices,  pleasing  manners,  and  self-possession. 
Abram  Brown  gradually  attained  to  the  highest 
distinction  as  a  preacher,  in  the  absence  of  these 
and  other  extraneous  helps. 

"His  brilliant  success,  without  so  many  adjunc- 
tive helps,  proves  that  he  possessed  a  rarely  great 
mind  and  a  noble  heart ;  and  both  were  greatly 
enlarged  by  habits  of  study  and  habits  of  devo- 
tion. 

"  God  never  vouchsafes  to  any  of  his  preachers 
all  of  the  elements  of  preaching  power.  Robert 
Hall  and  George  Whitefield  were  not  poweiful 
preachers  in  all  respects.  There  are  some  regards 
in  which  even  Spurgeon  is  not  a  model. 

"  He  gave  A.  B.  Brown  but  few  constituents  of 
the  great  preacher,  but  these  few  He  gave  him  in 
such  munificent  measures  as  to  make  him,  of  his 
class,  tlie  peer  of  any  preacher  of  his  own,  or  any 
denomination  in  his  State.  His  power  lay  in  the 
quickness,  richness  and  originality  of  his  thoughts, 
the  gushing  depths  of  his  emotions,  with  the  rare 
facility  of  clothing  his  ideas  in  the  fewest  and  best 
chosen  words. 

"  He  was,  however,  only  the  greatest  of  a  certain 
class  of  preachers.  It  were  not  best  for  the 
world's    religious    betterment,   that   all    or   most 


32  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

preiiclicrs  should  be  great  after  Dr.  Brown's  type. 
The  sermons,  that  gave  him  his  high  character 
were  too  intellectual,  to  convert  and  edify  the 
common  hearer. 

"He  could,  however,  preach  plain  and  practical 
sermons.  We  recall  one  he  preached  at  Mount 
Moriah,  during  a  protracted  meeting,  from  the 
text  *  Seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,'  etc.,  that  was  simj^le  and  thrilling 
to  all ;  but  on  the  day  before  preached  from  the 
text,  '  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,'  etc.,  a  sermon  grandly  mysterious.  It 
reminded  one  of  the  sun,  behind  a  dark  cloud, 
fringing  its  edges  with  golden  light ;  but  did  not 
break  out  in  full-orbed  plainness  till  near  its  close. 

"Dr.  Brown  was,  of  his  class,  one  of  the  greatest 
preachers  of  his  day,  and  was  in  the  truest  sense 
a  gospel  preacher.  His  great  intellect,  learning 
and  knowledge,  never  swerved  him  in  the  least 
from  the  simplicity  of  Christ,  and  while  we  say 
this  much,  say  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  not 
a  safe  model  for  our  young  preachers,  in  his  most 
striking  characteristics. 

"  Beyond  all  doubt,  he  was  greatly  useful  as  a 
preacher.  He  reached  and  impressed  a  few  that 
men  of  less  gifts  w^ould  not  have  won  to  Christ. 
But    he    Avould    have    reached   and  won   a  much 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  33 

larger  number,  had  his  mind  moved  in  an  orbit 
less  brilliant  and  less  extended,  and  yet  we  must 
say  he  never  appeared  to  us,  ambitious  to  be  either 
profound,  learned  or  original.  So  far  from  it, 
while  he  was  eminent  in  these  regards,  he  was 
with  all,  spontaneously  natural  and  earnest. 

"But  we  have  turned  aside  from  an  outline  of 
Dr.  Brown's  early  life  as  a  preacher,  into  an  at- 
tempt to  describe  him,  as  a  preacher. 

"  Soon  after  he  entered  the  Baptist  ministry  in 
Amherst,  he  was  appointed,  we  think,  by  the 
General  Association  of  Virginia,  a  missionary  in 
Lewis  County.  How  long  he  remained  in  this 
field,  and  what  Avas  his  success  in  it,  we  have  no 
means  of"  knowing. 

"  After  this  he  settled  as  pastor  of  several  Bap- 
tist Churches,  in  the  counties  of  Pittsylvania  and 
Halifax.  While  in  this  field,  he  became  the 
friend  and  co-laborer  of  Kev.  A.  M.  Poindexter, 
and  also  of  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Tyree,  who  had  recently 
settled  in  the  latter  county  as  pastor.  As  yet 
Mr.  Brown,  was  comparatively  unknown  to  his 
denomination  in  the  State.  Soon  after  Dr.  A.  M. 
Poindexter  became  acquainted  with  him,  he  said 
to  the  writer,  that  he  regarded  Abram  Brown  the 
most  talented  young  preacher  in  his  State.  Still 
it  was  years  before  his  fame  extended  beyond  his 


34  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

field  and  association,  and  in  these  his  briUiant  star 
arose  slowly. 

"  For  years  he  was  a  country  pastor,  and  then  a 
teacher  at  Hollins  Institute,  and  again  a  country 
pastor  before  Virginia  Baptists  knew  that  they 
had  in  this  obscure  Pittsylvania  preacher  their 
mightiest  intellect. 

"It  is  likely,  his  reputation  as  our  greatest 
thinker — and,  on  given  occasions,  our  greatest 
preacher — was  suddenly  made  by  one  unexpected, 
unpremeditated,  gigantic  speech  before  the  Gene- 
ral Association  of  Virginia. 

"  It  was  soon  after  the  late  war,  when  this  body 
met  in  Petersburg.  The  report  of  the  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  Hon.  H.  K.  Ellyson,  presented 
the  discouraging  fact  that  the  Board  was  five 
thousand  dollars  in  debt  to  its  missionaries  for 
the  past  year.  The  oldest  and  best  friends  of  this 
noble  Board  were  discouraged. 

"Several  brethren  attempted  to  come  to  the 
rescue  of  the  board  in  the  way  of  speeches, 
but  the  difficulties  that  environed  the  board  and 
seemed  to  threaten  it  with  immediate  stoppage, 
if  not  dissolution,  were  so  great,  that  they  spoke 
without  vigor  or  effect.  The  churches  of  the 
State  were  impoverished,  and  dispirited  in  both 
church    and    mission  work.      If   ever   there  was 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  36 

a  time,  when  the  noble  ship  of  the  State  Mission 
Board,  was  Ukely  to  be  engulphed,  it  was  at 
this  juncture. 

"At  this  painful  crisis  Pastor  A.  B.  Brown,  of 
Pittsylvania,  arose  to  speak.  He  had  spoken  be- 
fore the  association  before,  but  never  with  any 
marked  eftect  or  ability.  For  a  short  while  in 
manner  and  matter,  he  Avas  labored.  Soon  his 
voice  became  flexible,  rich  and  mellow,  his  eiuiu- 
ciation  loud,  rapid,  distinct  and  ringing.  The 
theme  of  this  great  speech,  that  most  likely  saved 
our  State  Board  from  collapsing,  was,  if  I  can 
correctly  state  it,  '  The  essentiality  of  the  Gospel, 
as  we  hold  and  preach  it,  to  the  welfare  of  Wr- 
ginia,  socially,  commercially,  politically  and  relig- 
iously.' 

"  He  soon  became  master  of  the  great  assembly. 
The  speaker,  in  uttering  his  great  argument, 
w^ept,  and  so  did  all  who  heard  him.  Nor  was 
weeping  all.  Many  were  determining  to  make 
extra,  and  greater  pecuniary  sacrifices,  to  put  on 
foot  again  the  State  mission  work.  When  Dr. 
Brown  finished  his  speech.  Professor  Cocke  sprang 
to  his  feet,  saying,  '  Brother  Moderator,  the  argu- 
ment is  finished.  This  association  is  now  pre- 
pared to  act.  I  move  that  subscriptions  and 
pledges  be  made  to  relieve   the  board,'  when,  in 


36  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

less  time  than  was  consumed  in  the  speech,  the 
whole  live  thousand  dollars  were  raised,  and  the 
great  crowd  arose  and  sang  '  Praise  God,  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow.' 

"  This  speech  gave  Dr.  Brown  a  reputation  as  a 
powerful  thinker  and  speaker  with  the  Baptists  of 
Virginia,  that  never,  in  the  least,  waned  while  he 
lived ;  and  all  who  knew  him  not  only  admired 
liini  f(jr  his  intellectual  and  scholarly  greatness, 
but  loved  him  for  his  goodness,  and  godly  sim- 
plicity of  character.  They,  who  knew  him  most 
intimatel}^,  admired  and  loved  him  most. 

"He  had,  no  doubt,  his  faults;  but,  now  that 
death  has  deprived  us  of  him,  his  character,  with 
its  bright  assemblage  of  mental,  social  and  Chris- 
tian excellencies,  looms  up  for  our  grateful  re- 
membrance and  imitation.  His  death  is  a  great 
loss  to  the  Baptist  ministry  of  Virginia,  to  the 
college  of  which  he  was  so  distinguished  a  pro- 
fessor, to  the  cause  of  education,  to  the  General 
Association  of  our  State  and  especially  to  his 
stricken  wife  and  children. 

"He  and  the  writer  were  from  early  life  en- 
deared friends.  Our  last  interview  was  on  the 
morning  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Association.  A  few  days  before,  he  had  requested 
me  to  pray  for  the  recovery  of  an  ill  son.     He 


THE  MOUNTAIN  ROY.  37 

commenced  our  last  talk  by  repeating,  with  tears, 
the  request,  '  Don't  forget  to  pray  for  the  recov- 
ery of  my  boy.' 

"  He  then  referred  to  Rev.  W.  A.  Tyree,  of  their 
long  and  mutual  attachment,  saying,  of  his  early 
friend,  but  for  ill  health,  he  would  have  attained  to 
eminence  as  a  preacher.  He  also  expressed  his  pur- 
pose to  write,  for  publication,  in  the  minutes  of  the 
General  Association,  his  estimate  of  my  brother's 
character.  But,  alas !  before  he  wrote  this  tribute, 
and  within  a  few  days,  the  God  who  gave  him,  un- 
expectedly to  himself  and  friends,  took  him  to  his 
griefless  home  in  heaven. 

"Cornelius  Tyree." 

Salem,  Va.,  December  30,  1885. 

Dr.  Tyree's  sketch  is  marked  by  the  character- 
istic candor  of  its  author.  In  what  he  says  of 
Dr.  Brown's  lack  of  popular  powder,  he  is  not  sup- 
ported by  other  distinguished  men,  whose  opinions 
will  appear,  in  later  chapters.  It  was  my  privilege 
to  sit  at  his  feet-  as  his  pupil,  and  also  to  hear  him 
from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  as  he  preached  his  mas- 
terly sermons,  from  the  pulpit  of  the  Charlottes- 
ville Baptist  Church.  At  that  time,  I  was  a  school- 
girl, and  of  course  in  point  of  intelligence  could 
claim  only  a  modest  place  as  one  of  the  people.    It 

450658 


38  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

must  be  admitted,  that  sometimes  he  descended  to 
depths  of  metaphysical  research,  and  sometimes 
bounded  to  heights  of  eloquence,  which  were 
beyond  my  capacity :  also,  that  the  strain  upon 
my  powers  in  attempting  to  follow  him  was  some- 
times intense;  and  occasionally,  at  the  end  of  his 
sermons,  I  felt  exhausted  b}^  my  own  mental 
excitement.  To  say  that  he  was  fully  understood, 
would  not  be  true,  but  I  always  understood  fully 
as  much  as  I  could  carry.  I  may  not  have 
appreciated  him,  but  was  consciously  exalted,  by 
every  contact  with  him,  I  cannot  ajDpreciate  the 
ocean,  but  the  sight  of  it  alwaj's  thrills  and 
expands  me. 

The  common  people  did  not  understand  Dr. 
Brown,  but  the}^  understood  and  assimilated  far 
more  of  thought  than  they  ever  gain  from  com- 
mon men.  He  roamed  on  heights,  which  they 
could  never  scale,  but  they  stood  on  tip-toe  to 
watch  him  in  his  majestic  flights.  Besides,  they 
caught  the  subtle  and  transforming  touch  of  his 
magnetic  character.  The  presence  of  a  great  man 
is  richly  educational — and  when  like  Dr.  Brown, 
he  is  charged  with  spiritual  warmth,  as  well  as 
intellectual  light,  he  quickens  into  better  life,  all 
who  come  under  the  spell  of  his  power. 

Among    the    many    honored   sons,   who    have 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  39 

delighted  to  honor  Virginia,  there  is  not  one 
whom  Virginia  delights  to  honor  more  than 
Thomas  Jefferson.  And  of  the  valuable  and 
imperishable  work,  that  he  wrought  for  her,  in 
the  legislative  halls,  the  forum,  and  in  the  retire- 
ment of  his  Monticello  home,  none  can  surpass 
in  magnitude  and  influence,  the  originating  and 
equipping  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  If  he 
had  done  nothing  else  for  his  state,  that  Institu- 
tion Avould  have  made  his  name  immortal.  The 
extent  of  its  curriculum,  the  high  standard  of 
scholarship  required,  and  variety  of  its  depart- 
ments, make  it  an  object  of  worthy  pride,  to  every 
Virginian. 

But  there  were  not  many  who  could  enter  its 
classic  halls;  not  many  who  could  get  the  pre- 
paratory training,  or  who  could  afford  the  neces- 
sary expense,  to  receive  such  a  course  of  study. 
Among  the  Baptist  preachers,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, it  had  not  been  thought  necessary  for  them 
to  have  an  education  beyond  a  knowledge  of 
Latin  and  a  little  Greek,  and  the  most  ambitious 
of  these  had  sought  access  to  Columbian,  and 
later  to  Richmond  College. 

The  writer  of  the  following  sketch.  Dr.  John  A. 
Broadus,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  the  subject  of 
it,  Dr.  Brown,  were  among  the  first  of  the  Virginia 


40  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ministers  to  seek  a  University  education.  And 
surely  the  denomination  could  not  be  more  honored 
than  to  have  as  its  first  representatives,  at  this 
fountain  of  learning,  such  gifted  minds,  such 
laborious  students,  such  consecrated  characters, 
as  the  two  mentioned  above — and  w^ho  in  paths 
somewhat  divergent,  have  far  outgone  the  pre- 
diction of  sanguine  friends  in  their  subsequent 
career. 

Dr.  Brown,  at  that  time,  little  dreamed  that  in 
after  years  he  would  be  the  Gamaliel  with  this 
University  learning  of  him. 

With  great  pleasure,  I  leave  my  readers  to  be 
addressed  by  Dr.  Broadus,  w^hose  pen  and  voice 
are  constantly  inditing  words  of  wisdom  to  the 
interested  multitude,  giving  them  the  result  of  his 
accurate  scholarship,  intricate  research  and  deep- 
toned  piety.  He  includes  in  his  recollections  both 
the  time  when  he  w^as  a  fellow-student  at  the 
University,  and  the  time  when  he  w^as  pastor  in 
Charlottesville,  a  little  more  than  12  years  later. 
I  thank  him  for  turning  aside  from  his  engrossing 
duties  as  Professor,  to  do  this  deed  of  love  : 

"  Mr.  Brown  spent  the  session  of  1846-7  at  the 
University  of  Virginia,  attending  the  schools  of 
Moral  Philosophy,  Chemistry  and   Natural  Phil- 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  41 

osopliy.  In  Moral  Philosophy  I  was  his  classmate. 
Before  the  middle  of  the  session  it  was  apj)arent 
to  me  that  he  was  the  foremost  man  of  the  class. 
Everybody  knows  now  that  he  had  a  remarkable 
specific  talent  for  that  class  of  subjects.  He  was 
extremely  undemonstrative,  and  even  diffident  in 
the  class-room  and  in  private.  But  Dr.  McGuffey's 
unrivalled  questioning  would  bring  out  all  that 
was  in  a  man,  sometimes  surprising  the  man  him- 
self into  the  consciousness  of  having  thoughts  that 
were  of  real  value.  We  soon  began  to  see  that 
Mr.  Brown  greatly  relished  philosophical  subjects, 
and  spoke  of  them  with  modesty  and  sometimes 
hesitation,  but  with  intense  interest.  He  was 
singularly  exact  in  expression,  and  at  times  quite 
happy.  During  that  or  a  subsequent  session  Dr. 
McGuffey  spoke  to  me  about  him  as  an  admirable 
student. 

"As  my  father  was  living  at  the  University  I 
had  occasion  to  introduce  my  friend  to  the  ladies 
of  several  families.  Not  then  prepossessing  in 
appearance,  and  not  so  felicitous  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  apparel  as  in  fitting  a  word  to  a  thought, 
he  was  also  embarrassed  in  company  by  his  con- 
stitutional shyness ;  yet,  notwithstanding  these 
drawbacks — which  are  worth  mentioning  only  for 
the  sake  of  this  fact — the  young  ladies  saw  very 

c 


42  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

soon  how  uncommonly  intelligent  he  was,  how 
elevated  in  feeling  and  tone  of  character,  and  they 
liked  to  converse  with  him.     Before  the  end   of 
the  session  I  had  a  great  admiration  of  his  mental 
powers,  and  his  sincerity,  simplicity,  purity,  quiet 
energy,  and  thorough  conscientiousness.     He  was 
also  very  unselfish,  very  prompt  and  cordial   in 
appreciation    of    others,    and    even    his     shyness 
showed  no  touch  of  unpleasant  self-consciousness. 
"In  October,  1859,  Mr.  Brown  became  pastor  at 
Charlottesville.      The    'June    Meetings'    of  that 
year  had  been    held    in    Charlottesville,   and    on 
Sunday  evening  (night)  Mr.  Brown  was  appointed 
to  preach  at  the  Baptist  Church.     As  he  sat  in 
the  pulpit  while  others  were  conducting  the  wor- 
ship, a  minister  took  a  seat  by  his  side,  and  said, 
'You  must  do  your  best  to-night.  Brown.     These 
people  are  thinking  of  calling  you  as  pastor.     I 
know  they  are — do  your  best.'     Now  let  us  not 
judge  over-harshly  the  man  w^ho  made  this  sug- 
gestion.    It  was  in  very  bad  taste  of  course,  and 
showed  a  sad  lack  of  right  feeling  about  preaching, 
for  a  right-minded  preacher  is  at  such  a  moment 
extremely  anxious  to  rise  above  all  concern  as  to 
what  people  may  think  of  him,  to  sink  everything 
in  the  passionate  desire  to  benefit  his  hearers  and 
honor   the   Saviour.      This   was   a  w^ell-meaning 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  43 

person,  however,  tind  the  hint  was  very  kindly 
intended.  But  how  little  he  knew  his  man.  One 
who  witnessed  the  scene  said  that  Brown  seemed 
almost  crushed — the  very  idea  of  trying  to  make 
a  display  in  the  pulpit  was  utterly  repugnant  to 
him,  and  that  anybody  should  expect  to  stimulate 
him  in  this  way  was  humiliating — in  fact  it  made 
his  sermon  a  comparative  failure,  which  had  to  be 
explained  afterwards  to  some  members  of  the 
church  who  did  not  know  him. 

"  In  the  summer  of  1860  I  spent  a  long  vacation 
in  the  suburbs  of  Charlottesville.  Being  in  poor 
health  and  almost  entirely  unable  to  go  about  the 
State  and  preach,  I  had  the  opportunity  to  hear 
Brother  Brown  quite  regularly,  and  to  see  him 
frequently  in  private.  Everybody  spoke  of  him 
with  great  respect,  and  now  and  then  one  with 
enthusiastic  admiration.  He  was  certainly  one  of 
the  most  blameless  men  you  could  anywhere  find. 
The  treasurer  said  he  was  a  most  excellent  econo- 
mist, and  lived  comfortably  upon  a  small  salary 
without  ever  getting  in  debt — which  at  that 
remote  period  was  thought  a  very  desirable  thing 
in  a  pastor.  His  conversation,  Avhen  with  two  or 
three  friends  who  had  some  metaphysics  in  their 
soul,  was  in  the  highest  degree  interesting  and 
profitable.     His  thought  upon  many  subjects  was 


44  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

profound  and  rich — like  a  geologist  revealing  mines 
of  treasure  beneath  a  surface  over  which  most  of 
us  had  walked  unknowing  and  unheeding.  The 
sympathetic  reception  of  his  thoughts,  or  the 
interest  of  discussion,  would  kindle  his  mind  into 
a  glow,  and  then  his  expression  would  be  not  only 
exact  but  often  extremely  beautiful.  While  a  bold 
and  independent  thinker,  he  was  anything  rather 
than  abstracted  and  self-sufficing.  His  mind  was 
greatly  dependent  as  to  its  best  action  upon  the 
sympathy  of  others  wdio  might  be  present,  or 
else  their  pronounced  and  kindly  antagonism.  In 
preaching,  if  his  hearers  seemed  dull,  he  was 
greatly  hampered ;  if  some  of  them  were  markedly 
inattentive,  it  was  all  he  could  do  to  go  on;  but 
wdth  a  congenial  theme,  in  which  the  hearers  also 
were  specially  interested,  he  was  a  great  and 
wonderful  preacher.  Yet  by  the  bulk  of  his 
hearers  his  ordinary  efforts  were  then  not  much 
enjoyed,  and  his  transcendent  talents  never  justly 
appreciated.  His  habitual  range  of  thought  was 
far  above  the  heads  of  people  in  general,  yai  it 
was  difficult  for  him  to  realize  that  fact.  He  did 
not  easily  comprehend  the  W' orkings  of  a  common- 
place mind,  and  therefore  could  not  put  himself  in 
sympathy  with  the  thinking  of  average  hearers, 
nor  adapt   the  selection    and   illustration   of  his 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  45 

thoughts  to  their  understanding  and  taste.  And 
while  so  greatly  dependent  upon  sympathetic 
listening,  he  had  not  the  self-asserting,  conquering 
resolution  which  compels  attention.  So  people 
often  complained  that  he  was  '•  shooting  over  their 
heads,'  while  John  Hart  and  Lewis  Minor  Cole- 
man were  rejoicing  in  an  intellectual  and  religious 
feast.  But  when  some  special  topic  or  occasion 
brought  liim  and  his  hearers  into  full  sympathy, 
the  effect  was  wonderful.  By  degrees,  as  the 
years  went  on,  truly  appreciative  hearers  gave  Dr. 
Brown  something  of  the  reputation  he  deserved ; 
people  who  came  to  know  him  well  loved  him 
warmly,  as  it  was  inevitable  they  should  do ;  and 
so  he  could  more  generally  command  the  full 
attention  of  all  present.  It  is  probable  also  that 
through  much  experience  as  pastor  and  teacher  he 
gradually  gained  more  of  intellectual  sympathy 
Avitli  the  mass  of  mankind.  Yet  his  extraordi- 
nary ability  was  never  fully  appreciated  by  people 
in  general.  Greatly  honored  and  admired  by 
Baptists  throughout  the  State  and  beyond  it,  and 
now  widely  and  deeply  lamented,  his  powers  far 
surpassed  his  reputation.  It  appears  to  me  that 
Virginia  has  produced  few  such  intellects.  And 
he  was  a  man  to  be  warmly  loved.  There  are 
many  of  us  who  recognize  it  as  among  the  marked 


46  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

blessings  of  a  lifetime  to  have  been  frequent  hearer, 
pupil,  friend,  of  A.  B.  Brown. 

"John  A.  Broadus." 

Without  disparaging  in  any  degree  the  above  it 
is  but  just  to  say  that  Dr.  Broadus  did  not  see 
much  of  Dr.  Brown  in  later  life.  And  while  it  is 
true  that  his  sermons  while  pastor  in  Charlottes- 
ville were  suggested  and  prepared  mainly  for  those 
requiring  strong  meat  rather  than  the  pure  milk 
of  the  word — yet  those  who  knew  him  later  as 
the  country  pastor,  the  army  chaplain,  and  after- 
wards as  the  college  professor,  will  bear  testi- 
mony in  these  pages  to  the  greater  simplicity  and 
unctuousness  of  his  preaching. 

Mr.  Brown  graduated  from  the  University  in 
the  schools  of  Moral  Philosophy,  Natural  Phil- 
osophy and  Chemistry,  with  certificates  of  pro- 
ficiency in  Geology  and  Mineralogy.  He  returned 
to  his  native  county  and  taught  a  school  with  much 
success.  At  this  time  he  preached  to  some  of  the 
churches  in  the  neighborhood.  While  the  majority 
of  those  Avho  heard  his  early  efforts  did  not  aj)pre- 
ciate  his  ability,  yet  there  were  some  who  saw  in 
him  the  foreshadowing  of  his  brilliant  career. 

It  seems  well  to  close  this  chapter  with  a  por- 
tion, at  least,  of  an  address  delivered,  in  his  later 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY.  47 

life,  by  the  subject  of  these  papers,  on  Beneficiary 
Education.  The  story  of  his  heroic  struggle  to 
educate  himself,  will  stand  as  a  striking  illustra- 
tion of  the  truth  and  justice  of  his  argument.  He 
knew  what  it  was  not  to  be  helped  in  preparing 
himself  for  the  ministry,  and  that  fitted  him  the 
better  to  feel  for  others : 


BENEFICIARY  EDUCATION.* 


The  Baptist  denomination  has  never  admitted,  and,  we 
hope  and  believe,  never  will  admit,  that  thorough  scholar- 
ship should  be  an  indispensable  condition  to  entrance  upon 
the  Christian  ministry.  Yet  the  Baptist  denomination  agrees 
with  almost  all  Christians,  and  with  almost  all  men  who  have 
at  all  thought  on  the  subject,  that  high  attainments  in 
literature  and  science,  and  especially  thorough  mental  dis- 
cipline, are  very  desirable  to  the  preacher  of  the  gospel.  The 
doctrines  which  it  is  his  mission  to  expound  are,  in  their  most 
accurate  and  authoritative  form,  locked  up  in  dead  languages. 
They  have  been  carefully,  conscientiously,  skillfully  trans- 

*  Delivered  before  General  Baptist  Association  of  Virginia,  held  in 
Danville,  June,  1877.  About  that  time  severe  strictures  upon  beneficiary 
education  had  appeared  in  the  public  prints,  and  this  address  of  Dr. 
Brown  was  made  at  the  request  of  the  Education  Board.  It  was  regarded 
as  a  triumphant  vindication  of  the  Board's  work,  and  was  most  warmly 
commended.    It  was  delivered  with  splendid  effect. 


48  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD,  LLD. 

lated,  aud,  in  the  main,  successfully.  But  their  precious 
contents  have  never  been  decanted  into  vessels  of  other 
material  aud  shape,  without  some  damage  to  flavor,  without 
some  loss  of  subtle  aroma.  Who  that  is  worthy  to  be  a 
minister  does  not  long,  nay,  even  aspire,  to  deal  with  divine 
truth  in  its  unshrunken  roundness  aud  its  unimpaired  fresh- 
ness? Then  the  teacher  of  Christianity,  even  if  he  takes  the 
truth  at  second-hand,  has  to  j^erform  upon  it  functions  as  diffi- 
cult and  as  delicate  as  those  which  taxed  the  cautious  sagacity 
of  a  Marshall.  What  a  wide  range  of  ancient  literature 
bears  on  the  Bible !  The  relation  to  it  of  all  Hebrew  history 
and  antiquitieo  is  abundantly  obvious.  And  there  is  scarcely 
a  line  of  the  extant  Greek  language  that  has  not  a  more  or 
less  important  outlook  on  the  meaning  and  construction  of 
words  in  the  kScriptures.  The  Bible,  with  the  fearless  frank- 
ness of  an  honest  witness,  has  committed  itself  to  innumerable 
allusions  to  concurrent  profane  history  aud  institutions. 
These  are  to  be  studied  for  their  bearing  on  the  Bible 
authenticity.  The  intellectual  food  of  beginners,  instead  of 
being  left  to  the  natural  powers  of  mastication  and  degluti- 
tion, is  ground  into  sausages  aud  cut  into  bits  iu  a  manner 
often  oflensive  to  the  self-respect  and  pride  of  the  children 
themselves.  I  cannot  remember  when,  in  my  first  regular 
reading-book,  my  eyes  fell  upon  the  first  sentence,  "  Diligence, 
industry  and  proper  improvement  of  time  are  material  duties 
of  the  young."  Well,  it  was  rather  high-pitched  for  an 
eight-year  old.  But  I  understood  something  of  it,  for  industry, 
proper  improvement  of  time  and  duty,  were  household  words 


BENEFICIARY  EDUCATION.  49 

with  my  mother.  These  threw  some  gleam  of  light  on  the 
associated  words,  and,  if  anything  was  not  understood,  it 
seemed  not  material.  The  next  thing  I  remember  was  the 
saying  of  Agesilaus,  that  boys  should  learn  what  they  will 
need  to  know  when  they  grow  to  be  men.  Then,  I  may 
remark,  they  should  learn  to  do  hard  work,  and  not  to 
expect  too  much  dandling  and  sympathy.  Toiling  along 
through  things  mysterious,  I  reached  ten  partially  intel- 
ligible chapters.  The  one  containing  in  brief  the  noble  life 
and  the  serene  and  pious  death  of  the  martyred  lady  Jane, 
the  understood  part  of  which  threw  much  light  on  their 
darker  environment.  The  next  was  the  allegory  of  that 
plodding  application,  that,  fixing  his  eye  on  the  temple  of 
knowledge,  and  steadily  pressing  onward,  distanced  the 
vigorous  but  desultory  flights  of  genius.  I  remember  that 
he  had  stones  to  remove  out  of  his  way,  and  certainly  it  would 
not  have  been  well  that  they  should  all  have  been  removed  for 
him.  I  am  sure  that  not  many  difficulties  were  cleared  from  our 
path.  It  was  so  in  grammar,  in  geography,  in  arithmetic, 
in  everything.  We  gained  by  the  hard  work  we  had  to  do. 
But  we  did  not  have  help  enough  from  teacher  or  text-book. 
Now  all  is  changed.  We  have  science  made  easy — we  have 
royal  roads  to  learning.  We  have  dilution  and  simplicity 
simplified ;  we  have  notes  innumerable,  keys,  translations. 
Difficulties,  which  masters  delighted  in  as  developing  strength, 
and  even  boys  rejoiced  in  as  challenging  and  testing  strength, 
are  removed,  chasms  are  bridged,  roughnesses  smoothed,  steeps 
are  gently  graded ;  and  there  is  luxurious  towering  where  once 


50  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

there  was  toilsome  climbing.  Mind  and  heart  and  will  are  en- 
feebled for  want  of  arduous  exercise.  When  too  much  help 
palsies  the  best  of  all  help — self-help — more  learning  may  be 
acquired,  but  there  is  danger  that  real  education,  soul-vigor, 
will  be  damaged.  But  let  us  not  do  injustice  to  the  educa- 
tional methods  of  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  school  books,  on  the  whole,  are  far  more  rational,  pro- 
gressive, cultured  than  those  of  a  preceding  age,  and  I  must 
say  that  I  have  lately  seen  some  of  the  most  difficult  text- 
books I  have  ever  seen,  and,  on  some  subjects,  the  only  really 
sensible  ones  that  I  have  found.  Yet  the  verdict  of  intelligent 
educators  remains  on  the  chief  issue.  Our  predecessors 
helped  too  little,  we  help  too  much.  But  do  we  help  too 
much  in  furnishing  the  means  of  education  ?  May  be  we  do. 
My  father,  uneducated  himself,  but  loving  learning  and  loving 
me,  toiled  hard  to  furnish  me,  even  scantily,  with  the  means 
of  education.  May  be  he  ought  to  have  left  me  to  work  out 
an  education.  And  I,  why  should  I  rack  my  brains  till  my 
temple  aches  over  the  question,  How  shall  I  educate  my  chil- 
dren? Why  should  I  not  help  them  along  as  well  as  1  can,  till 
they  are  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  then  leave 
them  to  work  their  way  ? 

And  why  should  not  the  Baptist  denomination,  Avhich, 
when  it  had  no  colleges  and  no  education  societies,  so  in- 
delibly impressed  itself  on  the  legislation,  the  genius,  the 
spirit  of  the  entire  country,  leave  its  poor  young  men  of  piety 
and  talent  to  the  stimulating  and  invigorating  influence  of 
self-reliance  and  hardship  and  neglect  ?   There  is  no  reason 


BENEFICIARY  EDUCATION.  61 

why  it  should  uot,  if  patronage  and  pecuniary  aid  are  super- 
fluous and  even  injurious.  If  she  did  enough  for  the  higher 
education  when  she  endowed  her  noble  University,  when  she 
put  generous,  intellectual  food  at  a  height  inaccessible,  of  almost 
impossible  access  to  the  poor  young  man,  she  might  have  said 
to  him,  cultivate  your  manhood  by  toiling  up  to  it.  She  de- 
cided differently  and  gave,  nearly,  for  a  term  of  years  board 
and  tuition  to  fifty  of  her  meritorious  sons  at  that  institution, 
thereby  giving  it  the  grandest  upward  impulses  it  has  ever  had. 
The  Baptists  of  Virginia  have  partially  endowed  a  noble 
college.  Shall  they  now  say  to  the  sons  of  poverty  seeking 
preparation  for  the  least  remuneration  of  the  learned  call- 
ings, find  or  make  a  way  to  the  halls  ?  A  rare  few  might  do 
it.  Those  irrepressible  men  of  genius  and  of  energy  who  are 
awfully  discounted  as  a  credit  to  the  Education  Board,  be- 
cause they  could  have  succeeded,  board  or  no  board,  might 
dispense  with  your  help.  But  these  indomitables,  I  suppose, 
do  not  flourish  solely  on  bread  of  sorrow  and  water  of 
affliction.  They  do  not  deserve  their  name,  if  a  smile  and 
lift  would  soften  and  paralyze  them.  We  expect,  indeed, 
great  benefit  to  them  and  to  mankind  by  pushing  through 
these  very  men  of  whom  there  is  no  fear  of  losing  their  feet. 
Ah,  sir,  tell  us  uot  to  have  these  men  educating  themselves 
till  they  are  thirty  or  thirty-five  years  old.  Let  them  get 
their  education  at  the  time,  and  the  only  time,  in  which 
education  is  more  than  material  and  instrument  for  the  soul, 
and  becomes  thoroughly  inwrought  into  the  powers,  habits 
and  tastes.     Let  them  complete  their  preparatory  education 


52  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

by  the  time  they  are  twenty-five,  or,  if  possible,  twenty-one. 
You  may  then  trust  them  with  those  terrible  girls,  whose 
influence  on  the  rising  ministry  seems  so  much  dreaded. 
Delilah  will  never  shear  their  locks  of  strength. 

Our  policy,  however,  is  not  to  be  adapted  to  the  cases  of 
extraordinary  men  ;  but  I  may  say  before  dismissing  them,  it 
will  not  do  to  predict  that  every  young  man  of  first-class 
ability  who  sets  his  head  on  making  money  and  getting  an 
education  will  succeed.  It  is  pure  assumption  that  ability 
always  succeeds.  And  yet,  the  percentage  of  those  who  are 
born  failures  and  yet  are  always  prating  about  what  they 
would  have  done  or  would  do  with  a  chance,  is  not  greater 
than  the  successful  men  who  ascribe  their  success  solely  to 
their  pre-eminent  ability.  Sir,  there  is  far  more  truth  in  that 
saddest  and  sweetest  pathos  in  literature,  Gray's  lament 
over  the  graves  of  the  obscure  and  unsuccessful,  than  in  all 
the  plausibilities  of  the  great  French  philosopher  Cousin, 
about  the  success  of  great  men. 

And  again,  great  abilities  are  not  always  successful  in 
making  money.  I  respect  real  talent  honorably  exerting 
itself  in  acquiring  wealth.  Talent  and  even  genius,  may  find 
scope  for  exercise,  in  financiering.  But  we  may  rest  assured 
that  all  talented  men  will  not  prosper  in  making  money. 
Young  men  strongly  inclined  to  literature  and  science,  will 
not  always  make  and  save  money.  It  is  a  very  bold  figure 
that  makes  this  land  bristle  with  men  who  have  worked 
their  way  through  college.  Bristles  stand  quite  thick  where 
they  belong.     The  number  would  probably  be  much  larger 


BENEFICIARY  EDUCATION.  53 

of  men  equally  able,  equally  meritorious  every  way,  who 
have  failed,  to  the  irreparable  loss  of  the  country  and  the 
church.  But  more  than  enough  has  been  said  of  men  of 
extraordinary  ability.  Can  enough  men  of  piety,  prudence 
and  of  good,  well-balanced  minds  educate  themselves  without 
the  aid  of  the  denomination  ?  Let  us  see,  with  the  present 
policy  of  the  free  schools  to  exclude  from  the  circle  of  instruc- 
tion Latin,  Greek,  Algebra  and  Geometry,  and  with  the  effects 
of  these  same  schools,  in  almost  totally  annihilating  private 
schools.  A  country  youth  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  is  singu- 
larly fortunate  if  he  is  prepared  for  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment in  a  college.  If  he  goes  through  college  and  seminary 
it  will  require  not  much  less  than  ten  years,  and  from  $2,500 
to  $4000.  How  shall  he  make  the  money  ?  It  is  a  happy 
accident  if  at  that  age  he  is  a  skilled  mechanic,  able  to  com- 
mand good  wages.  His  surest  j^rospect  for  raising  money,  is 
furnished  by  that  much-honored  instrument,  the  plough.  He 
will  receive  for  ploughing  eight  or  ten  dollars  a  month ;  out 
of  this  he  must  clothe  himself  very  cheaply,  for  it  is  to  be 
hoped  he  will  postpone  being  a  beau  till  he  reaches  college. 
How  long  will  he  be  in  raising  the  money?  Must  he  enter  a 
store  when  so  many  youths  are  crowding  in,  satisfied  with 
board  and  clothing  if  they  may  escape  the  sun  ?  The  country- 
store  of  the  period,  the  only  one  accessible  to  him,  is  almost 
always  a  suitable  place  for  the  retail  of  ardent  spirits.  You 
will  tremble  when  he  enters  them  for  a  moment,  once  or  twice 
a  week,  in  quest  of  the  mail.  Here  he  must  sit  down  amidst 
cotton  cloths  and  gin  and  whisky,  to  raise  the  money  to  take 


54  UFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLL). 

him  through  college.  The  outlook  is  not  encouraging.  Oh  ! 
but  he  may  teach  school.  Well,  in  the  olden  times,  the 
examples  were  not  rare  of  young  men  who  got  ready  for 
college  by  teaching,  and  then  alternated,  between  going  to 
college  and  teaching,  till,  at  from  twenty-four  to  twenty- 
eight,  they  came  out  well-educated,  often,  indeed,  among  the 
most  solidly  educated  men  of  the  country.  It  cannot  be  so. 
The  examinations  of  the  teachers  of  public  schools  presup- 
pose a  general  culture  and  a  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
teaching,  which  will  not  be  exhibited  by  a  youth  of  eighteen 
or  twenty,  of  fair  abilities,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  of 
such  we  are  now  speaking.  If  he  gets  a  school,  it  will  rarely 
be  for  more  than  five  months  in  the  year,  and  not  often  at  a 
compensation  of  more  than  thirty  dollars  a  month,  out  of 
which  his  board  must  be  j^aid.  If  he  can  get  through  the 
year  without  any  new  made  debt,  he  will  deserve  a  medal  for 
economy.  These  remarks  sufficiently  indicate  the  appalling 
barriers  in  the  way  of  a  young  man  working  himself  through 
college  without  aid.  They  constitute,  I  submit,  an  adequate 
argument  in  favor  of  beneficiary  education. 

The  reader  will  observe  that  this  address  is 
unfinished.  Dr.  Brown  never  wrote  out  the  last 
words  of  his  addresses  or  sermons.  He  trusted  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  occasion  to  furnish  him  with 
an  appropriate  ending. 

Those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  hear  this 
address  delivered  at  Danville,  not  very  many  years 
ago,  may  be  able  to  recall  its  closing  strains. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  55 


CHAPTER  TV. 

ENTERING  THE  HARVEST. 

A  BOUT  the  year  1848  Mr.  Brown  accepted  the 
appointment  of  the  State  Mission  Board  to 
be  its  missionary,  in  Lewis  County,  then  Virginia, 
now  West  Virginia. 

Pioneer  work  is  always  difficult.  It  is  the 
least  attractive  of  all  the  various  departments  of 
evangelical  labor :  for  the  reason  that  it  requires 
such  an  outlay  of  time  and  strength,  and  yields 
such  tardy  and  unsatisfactory  results.  Other  than 
men  of  strong  faith  and  intrepid  spirit  are  unfitted 
to  undertake  it.  The  peculiar  difficulties  of  this 
field  may  be  better  understood  when  are  taken 
into  account  the  facts,  that  the  country  w^as  rough 
and  wild,  the  people  living  at  long  distances  from 
each  other,  and  in  most  cases,  in  houses  bare 
of  comforts.  The  Baptists  here,  were  almost 
unknown,  the  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  being 
the  first  to  occupy  the  field.  The  preaching 
had  to  be  done  almost  entirely  in  school-houses 
and  private  dwellings.  Once  when  riding  through 
the  mountains  to  one  of  his  appointments,  he  was 


56  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

overtaken  in  a  snow  storm,  and  came  near  being 
frozen  to  death.  The  snow  fell  thick  and  fast, 
and  was  so  blinding  that  he  soon  lost  his  way,  and 
winding  around  the  mountain  passes  for  several 
hours,  there  seemed  no  hope  to  him  for  escape 
from  death  by  freezing.  But  late  in  the  after- 
noon, numb  and  chilled  he  rode  up  to  a  farm- 
house— where  the  kindly  attentions  of  the  inmates 
finally  restored  him. 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  a  young  man,  an 
alumnus  of  the  University,  of  strong  talents  and 
varied  attainments  should  elect  to  take  on  himself 
a  life  of  so  much  hardship.  In  striking  contrast 
is  the  spirit  of  this  age,  that  foists  the  new  and 
inexperienced,  upon  the  largest  and  most  exacting 
of  the  churches,  onl}^  to  see  the  victim,  at  first 
elated  at  his  sudden  elevation,  wither  and  shrink, 
and  collapse  amid  the  mortification  of  himself  and 
friends. 

The  details  of  his  work,  as  missionary  have  not 
been  obtained.  He  seldom  spoke  of  what  he  did. 
He  thought  himself  among  the  least.  He  some- 
times spoke  of  the  advantages  that  such  a  state  of 
discipline  afforded  him,  as  he  would  recall  some 
pleasing  memories  of  his  missionary  life. 

It  was  liis  first  initiation  into  the  life  that  is 
useful    and    far-reaching,   in    proportion    to    the 


ENTERING  THE  HARVEST.  57 

extent  of  its  burden-bearing.  His  life  here  was 
the  garden  that  grew  that  Christian  sympathy 
that  went  out  from  him  to  the  young  inexperi- 
enced ministers  afterwards,  on  so  many  occasions. 

One  incident  that  comes  to  us,  that  must  have 
been  a  source  of  joy  to  him — must  be  mentioned 
here.  The  lady  with  whom  he  boarded  was  a 
widow  with  several  sons.  When  he  applied  for 
his  bill,  she  said,  "Mr.  Brown  you  owe  me 
nothing ;  your  influence  over  my  boys  has  been 
so  helpful  to  them  and  so  pleasing  to  me,  that  I 
feel  that  I  am  in  debt  to  you."  And  she  could 
not  be  induced  to  receive  any  money  for  it. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  is  much  easier  to  com- 
mence at  the  mouth  of  a  great  river  and  trace  it 
back  to  its  head,  noting  how  different  obstacles 
deflected  it  from  its  course,  while  tributary  streams 
widened  and  deepened  it,  than  to  follow  it  out 
from  its  source. 

Similarly,  it  is  no  difiicult  matter  now  to  look 
back  over  the  life  of  the  one  under  review,  and 
see  what  helped  or  hindered  his  growth.  Notably 
his  life  of  seclusion  from  society  while  a  mis- 
sionary, often  riding  alone  the  most  of  the  day — 
afforded  him  time  for  much  of  that  abstract  think- 
ing and  mental  rumination  in  which  he  delighted 
to  indulge. 


58  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  motiipliysical  as  lie 
was,  he  was  exempt  from  the  ordinary  weaknesses 
of  mankind.  Cupid  had  darts  in  his  arrows  for 
him,  as  for  others.  While  teaching  school,  he  had 
become  engaged  to  a  young  lady,  with  whom  he 
was  frequently  thrown.  Alter  going  to  his  new 
field  of  labor,  she  accused  him  of  indifterence,  and 
suggested  a  termination  of  the  engagement.  He 
expected  to  meet  her  again  at  a  certain  time,  and 
failing  to  do  so,  he  regarded  it  as  the  changing 
point  in  his  life.  He  resigned  himself  yery  phil- 
osophically to  his  fate,  but  he  was  not  destined  to 
remain  long  outside  the  bars  of  female  entangle- 
ments. 

He  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  some  churches 
in  Halifax  and  Pittsjdvania  Counties,  in  the  year 
1849.  Among  his  earliest  acquaintances,  was  that 
of  Dr.  A.  M.  Poindexter,  a  minister  of  accurate 
scholarship  and  high  attainments — in  certahi  direc- 
tions the  leader  of  denominational  work  in  the 
State.  It  was  not  strange,  that  two  minds  with 
such  similar  tendencies,  should  be  so  companion- 
able. They  soon  became  fast  friends,  and  were 
often  in  each  others'  society — each  filled  with 
admiration  for  the  other.  The  wife  of  Dr.  Poin- 
dexter, was  born  a  Miss  Wimljish.  In  their  home 
Mr.   Brown   met  for  the    first    time   a  cousin  of 


ENTERING  THE  HARVEST.  59 

Mrs.  Poindexter,  a  Miss  Sallie  Wimbish,  a  fair 
maiden  of  17  years,  attractive  and  winning, 
who  had  been  a  successful  student  at  Charlotte 
C.  H.,  and  Hollins  Institute,  the  daughter  of  a 
wealthy  merchant  farmer,  who  lived  near.  Mr. 
Brown  having  had  his  attention  called  to  her,  by 
a  Rev.  Mr.  Scott — became  a  victim  to  her  charms, 
and  often  found  it  convenient  to  stop  by  on  his 
preaching  tours,  at  the  elegant  home  of  Mr. 
Wimbish.  Mrs.  Wimbish  was  a  niece  of  Rev. 
Abner  Clopton,  and  was  converted  by  the  reading 
of  a  letter  from  him  to  her,  which  appears  in  his 
Memoir,  written  by  Dr.  Jeter.  Their  home  was  a 
home  for  Baptist  preachers — one  of  those  typical 
homes,  with  which  Virginia  and  the  South  so 
abounded,  before  the  dark  days  of  the  War — 
when  plenty  and  good  cheer  filled  the  homes  of 
so  many,  and  when  the  guest  was  ever  welcome. 
Miss  Wimbish  had  some  hesitation  in  deciding  to 
give  up  a  home  of  wealth  and  luxury,  to  cast  her 
lot  with  the  ever  changeful  fortunes  of  a  preacher. 
She  surveyed  the  situation  calmly,  and  youthful 
as  she  was,  took  on  herself  those  vows,  that  made 
her  the  most  faithful  of  wives.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  November,  1861,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Mason;  the  bride  being  18  and  the  groom  30 
years  of  age. 


60  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

At  that  time,  Mr.  Brown  was  pastor  ol"  Arbor, 
Mill  Stone  and  Ellis  Creek  Churches,  in  Halifax 
and  Pittsylvania.  Those  who  had  met  him,  and 
who  had  heard  him  preach,  had  some  just  esti- 
mate oi"  his  worth ;  but  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  of  the  State  he  was  unknown.  Through 
the  influence  of  such  men  as  A.  M.  Poindexter 
and  Rev.  Wm.  Tyree,  his  fame  was  extended,  and 
after  preaching  for  a  few  years  in  the  country 
where  he  was  much  beloved,  he  accepted  a  Pro- 
fessorship in  the  HoUins  Institute,  where  he 
remained  two  years. 

It  seems  appropriate  at  this  point,  to  introduce  the 
following  valuable  contribution,  to  these  memorial 
pages,  from  the  pen  of  Prof.  Chas.  L.  Cocke,  LLD., 
who  has  been  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
the  President  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
Institutions  in  the  South,  for  the  higher  education 
of  women.  It  is  due  to  this  consecrated  Baptist  lay- 
man to  sa}',  that  to  him  attaches  the  honor  of  first 
detecting  the  imperial  gifts  and  ripening  scholar- 
ship of  Mr.  Brown,  and  of  utilizing  them  in  the 
cause  of  female  education.  His  subsequent  career 
as  a  teacher  abundantly  vindicated  the  judgment 
of  Prof.  Cocke,  in  calling  him  into  this  honorable 
branch  of  service : 


ENTEEING  THE  HARVEST.  Gl 

"My  acquaintance  with  the  Late  Rev.  A.  B.  Brown 
commenced  in  the  summer  of  1854.  At  that  time 
he  accepted  an  invitation  to  conduct  the  depart- 
ments of  Moral  Philosophy  and  French,  in  HoUins 
Institute,  and  entered  upon  his  labors  with  us  in 
September  of  that  year.  His  connection  with  the 
Institute  continued  for  several  sessions,  during 
which  period  he  filled  various  positions,  the  most 
prominent  being  that  of  Professor  of  English 
Language  and  Literature.  About  the  year  1857 
he  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of 
Hampton  Baptist  Church,  and  subsequently  to 
that  of  Charlottesville.  In  18G1  he  returned  to 
the  Institute  and  remained  two  sessions. 

"Although  Dr.  Brown  came  to  us  from  labors  not 
altogether  congenial  with  purely  critical  literary 
pursuits,  he  at  once  j)roved  himself  as  '  apt  to 
teach'  from  the  professor's  chair,  as  from  the 
sacred  desk.  Falling  into  the  regular  routine  of 
school  exercises,  as  though  teaching  had  been  his 
chosen  and  tried  vocation,  from  the  very  outset, 
he  gave  assurance  of  ability  and  success.  As  the 
session  progressed,  all — pupils,  teachers  and  Sab- 
bath congregations — were  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  they  had  in  their  midst  a  genius  and  a  mas- 
ter; a  man  of  eminent  gifts  and  scholarship,  of 
great  originality  and  grasp  of  both  thought  and 


G2  LIFE  OF  A.  P..  HROWX,  DD.  LLD. 

expression,  und  of  inexhaustible  resources  of  apt 
and  pointed  illustration.  He  was,  indeed,  whether 
from  his  chair  or  from  the  pulpit,  a  teacher  of  no 
ordinary  mould.  In  his  wide  reach  of  thought, 
soaring  beyond  the  text  and  the  conception  of 
authors,  he  gave  forth  views  of  his  own,  often 
original,  always  elevated,  and  always  sustained 
by  sound  logical  deduction  and  brilliant  illustra- 
tion. To  intelligent,  aspiring  pupils  he  was  not 
only  the  safest  of  guides,  lighting  up  the  pathway 
Ijefore  their  inquiring  minds,  but  a  constant  inspi- 
ration to  broader  visions  from  the  higher  eminences 
of  thought. 

"On  the  methods  and  mental  habits  of  associate 
teachers,  Dr.  Brown's  influence  was  most  marked 
and  in  a  high  degree  suggestive  and  stimulating. 
He  seemed  to  have  a  general  knowledge  of  all 
departments  of  study,  and  in  social  converse,  or 
in  business  meetings,  when  called  out,  his  views 
were  marked  by  an  originality  of  conception  and 
comprehensiveness  peculiar  to  himself.  His  mind 
seemed  to  Aveary  of  the  well-worn  ruts  and  nar- 
row channels  of  feebler  intellects,  and  reached 
its  conclusions  by  new  and  more  elevated  roads. 
By  language,  simple,  forcible,  and  eloquent,  he 
charmed  the  intelligent  listener  in  the  very  pro- 
cess  of   lifting   him   to    a   higher   realm.     From 


ENTERING  THE  HARVEST.  63 

leadership  in  any  sphere,  however  humble,  his 
peculiarly  sensitive  nature  caused  him  instinc- 
tively to  shrink ;  but  whether  in  the  social  circle, 
in  public  assembly,  or  the  lecture  room,  when  this 
reserve  was  once  broken  and  all  restraint  removed, 
words,  thoughts,  anecdotes,  classic  allusions,  beauty 
and  strength  of  illustration,  flowed  in  smooth  and 
rapid  current,  charming,  edifying  and  impressing 
all  so  fortunate  as  to  be  his  hearers. 

"  Himself  a  man  of  the  most  tender  and  earnest 
sympathies,  he  constantly  craved  sympathy  from 
others.  Often  in  the  secrecy  of  private  intercourse 
has  he  expressed  to  me  this  earnest  longing  of  his 
nature.  In  the  lecture  room,  in  the  great  congre- 
gation, in  the  common  intercourse  of  life,  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  his  quick  per- 
ception could  detect  the  absence  of  this  feeling  on 
the  part  of  his  hearers,  and  it  always  affected  him 
most  powerfully ;  so  much  so  that  on  several  occa- 
sions, in  earlier  years,  he  suddenly  stopped  and 
gave  up  wholly  the  exercise  in  which  he  was 
engaged.  But  when  fully  conscious  of  both  sym- 
pathy and  attention,  he  rose  to  the  full  measure 
of  his  vast  powers — his  countenance  would  light 
up,  his  movements  become  elastic  and  graceful, 
and,  wholly  forgetting  himself,  with  profound 
thought   and  'logic  set   on   fire,'  he  would    hold 


64  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

spell-bound   the    vast   multitudes,  however  intel- 
lectual and  cultured. 

'•'  In  the  year  1870,  as  I  remember,  the  General 
Association  of  Virginia  met  in  the  city  of  Peters- 
burg, and  was  largely  attended.  When  the  sub- 
ject of  State  Missions  came  up  for  consideration, 
the  Corresponding  Secretary  had  nothing  favora- 
ble to  report.  The  State  was  in  no  condition  to 
respond  liberally  to  appeals  for  mission  work, 
and  it  seemed  as  though  the  whole  machinery  of 
organized  evangelization  was  at  a  stand-still  and 
likely  to  remain  so.  The  prospect  was  gloomy, 
and  the  assembly  of  representative  men  was  bereft 
of  the  buoyant  spirit  of  enterprise.  At  this  junc- 
ture Dr.  Brown  arose,  and  commenced  a  speech  of 
a  general  character,  apparently,  directed  to  no 
particular  point ;  certainly  not  to  that  of  finances 
and  church  contributions.  If  it  had  a  theme  at 
all,  it  was  Christian  sympathy.  He  had  uttered 
but  a  few  sentences  before  the  large  congregation 
came  to  perfect  quiet,  and  every  eye  was  riveted  on 
the  speaker.  As  he  proceeded,  he  became  more 
and  more  animated.  In  tender  tones  and  choice 
language,  he  referred  to  the  changes  and  the  trials 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  had  come  over 
the  Baptist  churches  and  the  people  of  Virginia, 
the  altered  condition  and  relations  of  society,  the 


ENTERING  THE  HARVEST.  65 

rich  and  cultured,  unused  to  physical  toil,  brought 
to  poverty,  and  the  poor  deprived  of  those  sources 
of  daily  supplies  which  the  demands  of  active 
capital  had  always  afforded.  And  then,  with  a 
pathos,  a  beauty  of  language  and  an  eloquence  of 
both  thought  and  expression  I  have  never  heard 
surpassed,  he  urged  faith  and  trust  in  God  and  in 
each  other, — a  universal  Christian  sympathy  and 
brotherhood,  as  the  only  source  of  comfort  and 
support,  amidst  the  general  wreck  of  material 
interests  and  the  utter  subversion  of  all  business 
relations. 

"The  speech  was  overwhelmingly  powerful  and 
equally  appropriate — the  effect  was  marvellous, 
the  fountains  of  Christian  sympathies  were  stirred 
to  their  utmost  depths,  tears  flowed  from  eyes 
unused  to  weeping,  faith  and  hope  sprang  up 
afresh  in  many  a  heart,  and  new  resolves  strug- 
gled into  life.  Although  the  speech  made  no 
allusion  to  money,  for  nothing  was  farther  from 
the  thoughts  of  the  speaker,  it  was  only  necessary 
for  a  brother  to  arise  and  propose  a  subscription 
of  five  thousand  dollars  at  once,  to  start  the  Boards 
again  in  their  high  mission.  In  a  few  moments 
five  thousand  four  hundred  dollars  were  pledged, 
and  every  cent  of  it  paid  at  the  appointed  time, 
by  a  poverty-stricken  people.      On  many  other 


CjC,  1,1  FK  OF  A.  n.  BROWN,  DO.  r,r,D. 

occasions.  Dr.  Brown's  speeches  have  produced 
impressions  equally  profound,  and  even  more 
practically  efTectivc 

'*^  Though  Dr.  Brown  at  different  periods  of  his 
life  filled  the  pastoral  office  in  several  widely 
separated  fields  and  always  left  behind  him  pro- 
found impressions,  on  Christian  character  and 
intelligent  minds  outside  of  the  church,  yet  he 
never  held  his  true  position  in  life.  It  is  true 
that  for  want  of  means,  his  early  educational 
advantages  were  not  liberal,  and  even  after  he 
commenced  his  regular  work  as  a  minister,  the 
struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  himself  and  family, 
was  so  severe  and  unrelenting,  that  he  found  little 
opportunity  for  those  elevated  studies  in  which  he 
•so  much  delighted.  But  even  under  such  condi- 
tions, had  his  gifts  been  recognized  in  early  life, 
and  had  he  been  assigned  to  a  professorship  in 
some  Theological  Seminary,  his  career  would, 
doubtless,  have  been  far  more  brilliant  and  suc- 
cessful. Under  his  influence  and  guidance,  many 
a  young  minister  would  have  been  impressed 
with  an  elevation  and  breadth  of  character,  and 
inspired  with  a  holy  unquenchable  ambition  which 
might  have  carried  him  upward  to  the  highest 
spheres  of  religious  thought  and  pulpit  power. 
But  more  than  this,  what  he  always  desired  most 


ENTEPJNG  THE  HARVEST.  67 

to  do,  he  would  have  produced  text-books  on 
Mental  and  Moral  Science,  Logic,  &c.,  which 
would  have  given  him  enduring  fame,  and  sent  his 
influence  down  the  ages.  In  personal  character 
Dr.  Brown  was,  I  may  say,  almost  a  perfect  model. 
With  all  his  great  powers  he  was  as  simple  as  a 
child — generous  to  a  fault,  pure  in  heart  and  in 
life,  noble  and  aspiring,  unpretentious  and  genial 
in  his  associations,  even  with  the  humblest.  He 
was  truly  a  most  lovely  character,  and  truly  may- 
it  be  said  of  him  that  the  "bruised  reed  would  he 
not  break,  and  the  smoking  flax  would  he  not 
quench,"  when  by  so  doing  needless  pain  or  sor- 
row would  come  to  others. 

"In  our  Israel  has  fallen  a  mighty  Prince! 

"Chas.  L.  Cocke."     • 

Mr.  Brown's  life  at  Hollins  Institute  was  an 
exceedingly  pleasant  one.  The  literary  com- 
panionship here  enjoyed  as  a  member  of  the 
Faculty,  was  a  life-long  pleasure  to  him.  He 
loved  to  allude  to  his  life  at  Hollins,  and  he  never 
made  an  address  on  female  education  that  he  did 
not  have  something  to  say  about  his  distinguished 
friend  and  co-laborer,  Chas.  L.  Cocke.  He  warmly 
championed  a  liberal  education  for  females,  and 
spent  his  best  energies  in  furtherance  of  that  object. 


68  MFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Those  who  were  in  his  chxsses  at  HoUins,  were 
warmly  devoted  to  him.  After  his  death,  from 
many  quarters  letters  of  sympathy  came  to  the 
stricken  lamily,  from  those  who  w^ere  once  his 
pupils  there,  testifying  to  their  admiration  and 
affection  for  him. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  69 


THE  PLACE  OF  ENGLISH  IN   THE  COLLEGIATE 
COUKSE. 


If  the  Colleges  of  Eugland  and  America  had  been  asked 
thirty  years  ago  what  place  has  the  study  of  English  among 
you,  the  reply  would  have  been  unanimous,  it  has  no  place. 
Even  now  it  has  gained  position  in  the  curriculum  of  but  a 
few,  and  in  these  few,  that  position  is  by  no  means  uniformly 
the  same.  If  I  am  required  to  state  what  is,  and  not  what 
ought  to  be,  the  place  of  English  in  the  Collegiate  course,  I 
can  only  say,  it  is  new  and  unfixed.  Yet  much  depends  on 
this  obvious  statement.  The  English  language  till  to-day  has 
suffered  the  lack,  and  suffered  from  the  lack  of  academic 
patronage.  Its  study  has  never  been  preserved  according  to 
the  severe  and  scientific  methods  which  have  obtained  in  the 
higher  schools  of  learning.  It  is  almost  universally  regretted 
among  scholars  that  rich  and  noble  as  our  language  is,  its 
more  distinctively  English  element  has  been  to  so  great  an 
extent  overlaid  and  suppressed  by  foreign  intrusion. 

But  this  matter  of  regret  is  no  matter  of  surprise.  When 
our  great  writers  and  speakers  were  left  to  the  guidance  of 
chance  in  learning  the  peculiar  riches  of  their  native  tongue, 
and  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  Latin  language,  is  it  sur- 
prising that  they  impressed  so  much  of  the  vocabulary  and 
even  of  the  Syntax  of  the  language  which  they  had  carefully 


70  l.ll'K  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Studied,  upon  that  which  they  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have 
studied  at  all?  Edward  Gibbon  and  Samuel,  writers  of 
eminent  ability,  and  in  many  resjjects  of  conspicuous  excellence 
iiave  been  censured  for  the  Latin  cast  of  their  styles.  But 
their  just  censure  is  that  where  almost  all  sinned  they  were 
sinners  above  all  others.  And  these  great  men  were  more 
sinned  against  than  sinning,  as  their  reprehensible  commis- 
sions are  justly  to  be  charged  in  large  measure  to  the  omis- 
sions of  the  schools. 

The  formal  treatises  on  English  Grammar  have  suffered 
much  from  academic  neglect.  Ben  Jonson,  Bishop  Lowth 
and  Dr.  George  Campbell  were  all  fine  classical  scholars. 
They  had  absorbed  English  as  their  vernacular.  They 
had  carefully  read  many  of  the  best  models  of  English 
prose  and  verse.  They  doubtless  made  honest  efforts  to 
develop  by  induction  the  laws  of  English  Syntax,  but  being 
with  all  these  advantages  much  greater  proficients  in  Latin 
Grammar  than  in  English,  they  did  what  might  have  been 
predicted,  they  translated  what  Avas  really  common  to  the  two 
languages,  which  was  well ;  they  wrenched  English  into  a 
forced  correspondence  with  Latin,  which  was  not  well.  They 
made  some  allowances  for  the  absence  or  meagreness  of 
inflection  in  English,  in  which  they  could  not  go  amiss.  And 
they  turned  over  their  valuable,  but  rather  fragmentary,  con- 
tributions to  English  Grammar.  That  compiler  appeared  in 
the  person  of  Lindley  Murray,  a  man  certainly  of  no  great 
erudition,  but  of  a  sagacity,  judgment,  taste  and  patience  to 
which  Dr.  Webster  has  done  scant  justice.      He  built  the 


ENGLISH  IN  THE  COLLEGIATE  COURSE.  71 

fragments,  which  were  ready  to  his  hands,  into  a  skillful  mosaic, 
so  adroitly  concealing  the  seams  as  to  make  the  whole  wonder- 
fully resemble  the  work  of  a  single  organizing  mind.  If  he 
made  any  contributions,  they  are  not  strikingly  inferior  to 
the  work  of  his  masters. 

Since  Murray's  day,  with  some  honorable  exceptions  in  the 
last  few  years,  no  one  seems  to  have  made  an  honest  effort  to 
lift  himself  out  of  the  old  ruts.  Eoswell  Smith  in  his  dia- 
logue with  babies  has  put  the  final  term  to  the  old  system. 
The  failure  of  Smith  was  due  neither  to  ignorance  nor  to 
weakness,  for  in  another  department  of  authorship,  he  has 
shown  considerable  ability. 

He  failed,  from  attempting  to  teach  Grammar  as  a  science 
to  those  who  were  incapable  of  learning  it.  He  failed  as  much 
greater  men  have  failed  in  similar  circumstances.  The  rare 
powers,  and  the  j)re-eminent  professional  learning  of  Sir  John 
Herschel,  failed  in  an  attempt  to  popularize  astronomy,  and 
only  succeeded  in  producing  a  treatise  midway  between  the 
demands  of  the  scientific  student  and  of  the  general  reader. 
Too  meagre  and  commonplace  for  the  one,  and  too  technical 
for  the  other.  If  the  English  language  had  been  taught 
according  to  the  severer  methods,  which  could  alone  have 
found  favor  in  a  respectable  college,  there  probably  would 
have  been  no  such  book  as  Smith's  for  any  class  of  students  ; 
it  surely  could  never  have  been  the  only  work  on  English 
Grammar,  which  many  educated  persons  have  examined  ;  and 
then  could  no  intelligent  Virginia  teacher  say,  Lavater  may 
become  obsolete,  Newton    and    Laplace   may   be  distanced 


72  LIFE  UF  A.  B.  BUOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

in  the  future ;  but  woe  to  the  luua  who  attempts  to  alter 
Koswell  C.  Smith. 

AVe  cau  but  think  that  the  chief  reason  why  the  English 
language  is  in  general  so  inaccurately  spoken  and  written,  is 
that  its  culture  is  still  new  to  the  Colleges  and  Universities  of 
England  and  America.  The  French  language  receives,  in  its 
native  landmarks,  more  academic  attention  than  the  English 
receives  in  this  country.  The  fact  is — may  I  not  say — the 
result  is,  that  the  French  vocabulary  is  much  more  precise  in 
its  use,  and  its  grammar  much  more  fixed  and  much  more 
loyally  obeyed.  Yet  enlightened  Frenchmen  complain  of 
their  countryman's  neglect  of  study  of  their  noble  language. 
A  distinguished  French  author  recently  said,  with  something 
of  humorous  exaggeration,  "  there  are  in  Europe  probably 
as  many  as  a  half-dozen  men  Avho  tolerably  well  understand 
Latin.  Those  who  understand  French  are  much  fewer." 
Such  a  man  might,  in  a  judgment  of  charity,  give  Grant  "White 
the  unique  place  in  English  scholarship  which  Hegel  gave  a 
single  student  in  the  Hegelian  philosophy,  when  he  said, 
"  there  is  only  one  living  that  understands  me,  and  he  does 
not  understand  me. " 

In  saying  that  the  English  language,  both  in  its  words  and 
constructions,  is  different  from  what  it  would  have  been  with 
diligent  academic  cultivation,  I  wish  not  to  be  understood 
as  cherishing  or  encouraging  hostility  to  anything  which  has, 
happily  or  unhappily,  become  an  element  of  the  language.  I 
am  far  from  denying,  that  while  much  has  been  imported  into 
English,  which  could  have  been  better  advantageously  sub- 


ENGLISH  IN  THE  COLLEGIATE  COURSE.       73 

stituted,  by  the  encouragement  of  home  production,  the 
importations  on  the  whole  have  greatly  enriched  the  language 
■with  necessaries,  with  conveniences  and  with  elegant  and 
innocent  luxuries.  But  be  this,  as  it  may,  it  is  conclusive 
to  add  that  every  incoming  word  that  has  stood  the  challenge 
and  gained  footing,  has  the  full  rights  of  citizenship.  I  protest 
against  any  studied  preference  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  element. 
Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrimine  agetur.  The  two 
venerable  dialects,  whose  confluence  formed  our  noble  speech, 
were  kindred  tongues.  Their  contributions  are  sometimes 
hard  of  distinction.  The  Romance  is  now  and  then,  as  short 
and  bare  as  the  Anglo-Saxon.  The  Anglo-Saxon  is  some- 
times as  stately  and  sonorous  as  the  Romance.  Let  alone, 
they  will  make  a  fit  and  friendly  division  of  labor  between 
themselves.  The  Latin  will  be  prominent  in  the  higher 
walks  of  science  and  art,  and  in  the  more  pui-ely  intellectual 
processes  of  the  mind;  but  the  Anglo-Saxon  well  expresses 
your  auger,  your  love  and  your  hate,  your  scoru  and  your 
smiles,  and  your  laughter,  your  tears,  your  sighs  and  groans, 
your  outcryings  and  your  wailings.  It  names  our  dearest 
friends,  father  and  mother,  brother  and  sister,  son  and 
daughter,  husband  and  wife.  It  is  the  speech  of  the  cradle 
and  the  play-ground,  the  fireside  and  the  board,  the  shop  and 
the  market.     But  it  rises  and  soars — 

[It  will  be  observed  that  this  address  is  unfin- 
ished. Dr.  Brown  seldom  wrote  his  closing  sen- 
tences. He  trusted  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
occasion  for  them.] 


74  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 


CHAPTER  y. 

THE    HAMPTON,  PASTOR. 

TN  January,  1857,  Mr.  Brown  dissolved  his  first 
connection  with  Hollins  Institute,  wdth  a  view 
of  assuming  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Baptist  Church 
in  Hampton,  Va.  Hampton  at  that  time  was  one 
of  the  most  cultivated  and  delightful  towns  in 
Virginia.  Located  near  Fortress  Monroe,  in  full 
view  of  Hampton  Roads,  and  enjoying  the  delights 
of  the  sea  breezes  as  well  as  the  boundless  produc- 
tions of  the  ocean,  it  was  the  home  of  wealth, 
intelligence  and  refinement.  The  Baptist  Church, 
while  not  large,  had  a  stately  house  of  worship, 
the  larger  proportion  of  the  social  and  financial 
strength  of  the  community  in  its  membership. 
Just  about  the  time  that  Mr.  Brown's  pastorate 
commenced,  the  Chesapeake  Female  College, 
situated  near  the  town,  began  its  brief  but 
brilliant  career,  and  added  a  new  attraction 
to  the  Hampton  pastorate.  It  was,  therefore, 
under  peculiarly  auspicious  conditions  that  he 
first  entered  on  his  work  as  a  tow)i  pastor.  It  is 
universally  conceded  that  his  Hampton  pastorate 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  75 

was  in  the  best  sense  an  eminent  success.  The 
attachment  between  the  pastor  and  the  people  was 
intimate  and  devoted.  The  church  possessed  an 
almost  boundless  admiration  for  its  eloquent  and 
scholarly  pastor.  Even  to  this  day,  wherever  you 
find  the  remnants  of  that  fine  old  church,  you 
will  find  the  enthusiastic  admirers  of  the  lamented 
Brown. 

On  his  part,  the  devotion  was  none  the  less  pro- 
found and  enduring.  He  was  wedded  in  heart  to 
the  Hamptonians.  It  was  a  notable  fact  in  his 
subsequent  life  that  whenever  he  came  in  reach  of 
any  of  the  old  Hampton  families,  he  made  it  a 
point  to  seek  them  out  and  kindle  anew  the  fire 
of  their  olden  love. 

Of  his  life  in  Hampton,  the  reader  will  find  in 
the  subjoined  paper  a  loving  and  suggestive  sketch 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Wm.  R.  Vaughan,  then  a  citi- 
zen of  Hampton,  but  now  the  accomplished  Presi- 
dent of  the  Chester  Female  College  : 

"It  was  early  in  the  month  of  December,  1856, 
that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  first  came  to 
Hampton. 

"  Rev.  David  Shaver,  DD.,  had  been  many  years 
the  '  under  shepherd '  of  the  flock.  His  sermons 
were  not  only  admired  because  of  their  clearness 


76  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

and  point,  but  owin^  also  to  the  fact  that  they 
were  invariably  delivered  in  a  stjle  peculiarly 
attractive,  notwithstanding  a  phj'sical  trouble 
which  much  interfered  with  his  otherwise  fault- 
less manner  in  the  pulpit;  nevertheless,  his  dis- 
courses were  instructive,  deep,  profound.  His 
appropriate,  though  not  studied,  gesture,  fine  per- 
sonal appearance,  and  winning  countenance,  could 
not  fail  to  make  a  good  impression  upon  his 
hearers,  of  all  denominations  of  Christians  and  all 
classes  of  people. 

"  Dr.  Shaver  preached  his  best  sermons  to  his 
own  congregation.  His  preparation  appeared  as 
thorough  when  he  stood  in  the  pulpit  before  his 
people,  as  at  any  other  time  or  upon  any  other 
occasion. 

"  Dr.  Brown  succeeded  the  pastor,  so  briefly  and 
imperfectly  referred  to,  and  entered  upon  his  duties 
the  first  of  January,  1857. 

"His  visit  in  December,  185G,  was  made  under 
peculiar  circumstances. 

"  Perhaps  not  a  meniber  of  the  church  had  ever 
seen  him,  and  few  of  the  members  had  heard  of 
him.  Endorsed,  however,  by  that  truly  great  and 
good  man,  known  and  loved  by  all  Virginia  Bap- 
tists— A.  M.  Poindexter — he  received  a  cordial 
welcome. 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  77 

"  The  weather  was  by  no  means  propitious. 
The  winter  of  1856-57  was  the  coldest  ever  ex- 
experienced  in  Virginia.  The  announcement  that 
'A    brother  Broum   would   fill   the    pulpit  on  the 

Sabbath  of ,'  did  not  fail  to  bring  together 

quite  a  large  congregation,  notwithstanding  the 
cold  day.  He  preached  twice.  His  first  sermon 
was  good,  the  next  better.  Comparisons  are  inevi- 
table. They  are  made  under  all  circumstances. 
The  'out-going'  and  'in-coming  pastors'  often  re- 
ceive their  full  share.  The  difference  in  the  per- 
sonal appearance  of  the  two  men  referred  to,  as 
they  walked  the  church  aisles,  or  stood  before  the 
people,  can  be  appreciated  by  all  who  have  seen 
them.     A  more  striking  contrast  is  seldom  found. 

"You  cannot,  neither  can  the  reader  of  these 
lines,  fail  to  see  that  our  brother  experienced  no 
little  degree  of  nervousness,  and  was  by  no  means 
at  ease.  What  a  trial  it  must  be,  when  a  minister 
of  Christ  has  to  pass  through  such  an  ordeal ! 

"  From  the  moment  he  arose  to  open  the  exer- 
cises of  the  hour,  to  the  close  of  his  sermon,  the 
greatest  attention  was  given,  by  a  congregation 
noted  for  closely  following  the  preacher,  from  the 
announcement  of  his  text  to  the  close  of  his 
discourse. 

"  Upon  him  all  eyes  were  turned.     It  did  not 


78  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

require  a  vivid  imagination  to  read  the  thoughts  of 
the  old  brethren,  the  middle  aged,  and  the  young 
— sisters  included — when  our  brother  preached  his 
first  sermon  before  the  Hampton  Baptist  Church. 

"  I  did  not  know"  it  then,  but  a  closer,  more  inti- 
mate acquaintance  in  after  years,  clearly  j^roved 
to  me  the  trying  ordeal  through  which  this  humble 
man  of  God  was  passing. 

"  He  felt  keenly  the  situation,  but  proved  him- 
self equal  to  the  occasion,  as  the  subsequent  action 
of  the  church  showed,  by  extending  to  him  a 
unanimous  call  to  become  Dr.  Shaver's  successor. 

"  During  this  visit  to  Hampton,  Dr.  Brown  was 
my  guest.  He  met  many  of  the  brethren  at  their 
homes,  and  wherever  he  went,  it  seems,  a  warm 
feeling  of  friendship  sprang  up,  lasting  to  the  close 
of  his  pastorate,  indeed  to  the  close  of  life.  Go 
where  yow  will,  in  all  that  country,  near  Hampton, 
if  any  of  the  brethren  or  sisters  wdio  were  then 
alive  refer  to  i\i(Av  for-mer  pastor — A.  B.  Brown — 
or  the  children  of  those  friends  speak  of  him,  you 
will  hear  expressions  of  love  and  affection  seldom 
heard  concerning  any  man,  in  any  community. 
To  know  him  was  to  admire  him,  to  know  him 
well  was  to  sincerely  love  him. 

"  It  was  a  cold,  dark  daj^,  the  first  Sabbath  in 
January,  1857,  when  Dr.  Brown  entered  upon  his 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  79 

duties  as  pastor  of  the  church,  and,  as  such, 
preached  his  first  sermon.  Through  the  many 
changes  which  more  than  twenty-nine  (29)  long 
years  have  wrought,  and  hundreds  of  sermons 
listened  to,  in  the  mean  time,  as  they  came  fresh 
from  the  lips  of  brethren  of  the  Baptist  ministry, 
the  text  and  sermon  of  our  brother  have  not  been 
forgotten :  '  For  I  determined  not  to  know  any- 
thing among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  cru- 
cified.'— 1  Cor.  2d  chap.,  2d  verse. 

"  From  that  day  onward  our  brother  had  a  warm 
place  in  the  hearts  of  many  brethren.  A  few, 
like  Thomas,  may  have  had  'douhts.'  Some  weeks 
passed  before  he  preached  a  sermon  not  equaled — 
surely  not  surpassed  on  the  same  theme  by  any 
minister — the  '/S'm  of  Covetousness.' 

"  For  more  than  one  hour  he  held  the  large  con- 
gregation, as  it  were,  '  spell-bound.'  With  force 
and  power  he  told  of  this  subtle  sin,  presenting 
it  as  never  before  unfolded  to  us.  We  did  not  ask, 
'Lord,  is  it  I?'  but  left  the  house  feeling  that 
the  time  had  come  for  all  to  cry  unto  God  for 
forgiveness  ! 

"The  winter  of  1856—57  was  the  coldest  ever 
experienced  in  Virginia.  Icebergs  formed  in  Hamp- 
ton Koads.  Great  ships  and  steamers  could  not 
move  because  of  the  mass  of  ice  in  the  Roads  and 


80  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Chesapeake  Bay.  Two  weeks  passed  before  the 
people  of  Hampton  had  communication  w^ith  friends 
in  Norfolk.  Several  large  immigrant  ships,  in  the 
midst  of  the  great  storm,  bound  to  New  York, 
came  into  Hampton  Eoads.  Much  suffering  oc- 
curred. Scores  of  these  people  landed  at  Old 
Point,  and  some  made  that  vicinity  their  future 
home.  Among  the  few  persons  who  could  com- 
municate with  these  German  immigrants,  w^as  the 
pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  wdio,  while  not 
fluent  in  speech,  yet  such  was  his  knowdedge  of 
the  language,  his  remarkable  quickness  in  acquir- 
ing anything  to  which  he  turned  his  extraordinary 
perceptive  faculties,  that,  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  citizens  and  the  delight  of  his  brethren,  he 
was  often  found  conversing  with,  and  interpreting 
for  the  Germans,  as  well  as  for  the  curious  or 
interested  Americans. 

"  During  Dr.  Brown's  pastorate,  additions,  from 
time  to  time,  were  made  to  the  church.  It  was 
numericall}^  and  financially  strong  when  he  took 
charge  of  it.  Perhaps  with  the  exception  of  two 
or  three  Baptist  churches  in  Virginia,  the  aggre- 
gate wealth  of  the  one,  at  Hampton  was  not  sur- 
passed, when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  call  to 
Charlottesville. 

"  His   congregations,  generally  good,  were  fre- 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  81 

quently  large.  He  preached  to  a  people  who 
had  been  instructed  by  some  of  the  first  men  in 
the  Baptist  denomination — pious  and  gifted  minis- 
ters, who  have  never  failed  to  make  their  mark 
wherever  they  have  gone;  hence  his  was  an 
appreciative  congregation.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  make  a  brief  reference  to  his  eminent  prede- 
cessors, to  show  that  our  brother — coming  the  first 
time  from  country  cliurches  to  a  town,  not  city, 
congregation — well  sustained  the  high  opinion  en- 
tertained of  him  by  Dr.  Poindexter,  who,  as  above 
indicated,  recommended  him  to  our  brethren.  Some 
now  alive  have  not  forgotten  the  grand  sermons  of 
that  truly  great  preacher,  John  Goodall — vide, 
'  Taylor's  Life  of  Virginia  Ministers.'  He  was 
succeeded  by  Joseph  Walker,  one  of  the  best 
23astors  in  our  land.  Then  came  the  now  sainted 
Jacob  R.  Scott,  who  was  called  to  the  chaplaincy 
of  The  University  of  Virginia,  and  was  the  first 
minister  of  any  denomination  of  Christians  who 
was  invited  to  remain  two  sessions.  A  young  man 
who  has  since  proved  himself  capable  and  worthy 
to  fill  any  pulpit  in  this  State,  succeeded  brother 
Scott — I  refer  to  Rev.  Jos.  R.  Garlick,  D.D.  His 
sermons  and  pastoral  work  have  not  been  forgotten. 
Then  came  Dr.  Shaver.  Here  is  a  line  of  pastors 
covering   a   period   of  nearly  thirty  years — men 


82  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Avhoin  the  iiaptists  of  Virginia  and  of  other  States 
have  again  and  again  honored. 

"  I  have  referred  to  these  brethren,  to  show 
that  a  pastor  following  them,  remotely  or  immedi- 
ately, and  yet  successful  in  his  icorh,  must  have 
been  a  minister  of  more  than  ordinary  gifts.  Yea, 
a  gifted  man. 

"  That  he  maintained  a  high  position  as  a 
preacher  and  pastor,  in  a  church  noted  for  the 
superior  attainments  of  his  predecessors,  I  have 
endeavored  to  show.  But  there  are  men  now  living, 
so  well  known,  wdio  at  different  times  were  mem- 
bers of  his  congregation,  and  who  will  bear  testi- 
mony to  his  superior  attainments,  that  I  feel  con- 
strained to  mention  their  names :  President  Forey, 
Col.  John  B.  Gary,  and  many  of  the  cadets  of  his 
Military  Academy ;  also  ReV.  Jas.  C.  Hyden,  DD., 
and  Rev.  I.  B.  Lake,  DD.,  both  of  wdiom  were,  at 
the  time  of  which  I  write,  professors  in  Chesar 
peake  College. 

"  The  families  of  teachers,  intelligent  farmers, 
merchants,  physicians,  and  lawyers,  sat  under  the 
preaching  of  Dr.  Brown,  and  were  taught,  as  few 
people  are  instructed  from  the  pulpit,  by  this  emi- 
nently pious  man. 

"  Some  of  our  friends  who  were  present  at  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Association,  June,  1858, 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOE.  83 

may  have  forgotten  the  names  of  those  by  whom 
they  were  entertained,  whose  hospitality  they  en- 
joyed. The  grand  introductory  sermon  of  Dr. 
Poindexter  may  possibly  have  faded  from  their 
memories ;  the  excellent  addresses  delivered  by 
Burwell  Snead  and  other  laymen  and  preachers; 
but  one  scene,  in  which  our  brother  was  the  chief 
actor  and  in  which  he  bore  the  most  conspicuous 
part,  was  the  baptism  of  seven  young  peo23le — 
gentlemen  and  ladies — this  surely  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 

"  It  was  a  beautiful  afternoon  early  in  June, 
the  saline  atmosphere  was  invigorating,  the  sur- 
face of  the  pretty  river  was  rippled  by  a  refreshing 
summer's  breeze.  The  place  may  be  described  as 
a  semi-circle.  Gradually  rising  from  the  Avater 
near  by,  were  the  inviting  and  attractive  homes  of 
the  citizens  of  Hampton.  More  than  1000  people 
had  there  assembled.  Representative  men  from 
Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  Mary- 
land and  from  all  parts  of  Virginia,  were  there. 
Our  brother — then  the  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  in  Richmond — Rev.  J.  L.  Burrows,  DD., 
was  present.  As  he  took  his  position  to  address, 
in  his  clear  ringing  voice,  the  multitude;  standing 
at  the  river's  edge,  not  noticing  that  the  tide  was 
flowing  inward — as  the  sailors  say — he  finished 


84  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

his  eloquent  address,  during  the  delivery  of  which, 
the  incoming  tide  had  hurled  his  feet  in  water. 
The  porticoes,  even  the  windows  of  the  adja- 
cent houses,  were  all  filled  with  eager  spectators 
of  this  lovely  scene. 

"  No  blind  Bartimeus  was  there ;  but  I  saw  in 
the  top — perched  upon  the  limb — not  of  a  'Syca- 
more,' but  of  a  Mulberry  tree,  the  small  and  Utlie 
form  then,  of  the  now  vigorous  and  'portly  Bishop, 
of  the  Church  at  Wilmington,  N.  C. 

"Upon  the  evening  breeze  was  wafted  far  away 
across  the  waters,  the  songs  of  the  multitude. 
How  appropriate  then  seemed  the  words  of  Judson : 

*  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Dove  Divine, 
On  these  baptismal  waters  shine, 
And  teach  our  hearts  in  highest  strain, 
To  praise  the  Lamb  for  sinners  slain.' 

And  then  Dr.  Brown  in  his  own  peculiar,  but  im- 
pressive manner,  M^uried  these  young  converts 
with  Christ  in  baptism.' 

"  Who  among  that  vast  crowd  were  not  reminded 
of  the  precious  words? 

"Tis  done;  the  great  transaction's  done; 
I  am  my  Lord's  and  He  is  mine!' 

While  the  eyes  of  scores  of  Christians  were  filled 
with  tears  of  joy,  a  voice  led  oft'  in  a  sweet  song  of 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  85 

Zion,  as  the  happy  souls  'came  up  out  of  the  water/ 
in  which  a  grand  choir  of  500,  or  a  thousand  people 
joined.  Truly,  'it  was  well  to  be  there!'  the  sun 
was  fast  setting  when  the  Christians  parted, 
saying:  'Of  all  the  pleasant  hours  and  days  spent 
during  this  meeting  of  the  association,  the  past 
hour  has  crowned  them  all.' 

"When  it  became  known  that  brother  Brown 
had  determined  to  succeed  Dr.  John  A.  Broadus, 
as  the  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Charlottesville, 
expressions  of  sincere  regret  were  heard  from  all 
classes  of  our  people.  A  prominent  Methodist 
gentleman  said:  'I  have  often  parted  with  my 
pastors,  but  I  feel  more  keenly  the  departure  of 
the  Baptist  pastor  than  of  any  minister  I  have 
ever  known.' 

"As  further  evidence  of  the  high  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held,  and  the  friendly  relations  ex- 
isting between  Dr.  Brown  and  the  people  generally, 
the  valued  work — Olshausen's  Commentary  on  the 
New  Testament,  translated  into  English  for  Clark's 
foreign  theological  library,  and  revised,  etc.,  by 
Prof.  A.  C.  Kendrick,  of  Rochester  University — 
in  six  large  volumes,  was  formally  presented  to 
him  by  a  number  of  young  gentlemen  of  the  town, 
irrespective  of  religious  afl&liation. 

"  Soon  after  this  I  parted  with  my  pastor,  my 


86  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN.  DD.  LLD. 

friend  and,  I  may  add,  my  teacher.  Often  did  I 
^  sit  at  his  feet,'  and  from  him  gather  knowledge 
as  from  no  other  man.  Another  parting  has  been 
experienced,  so  unexpectedl}'-,  hence  the  more 
crushing  the  blow. 

"  You  Avill  indulcre  me — thouirh  this  letter  is 
longer  than  I  intended  it  should  be — in  saying 
that  I  knew  Dr.  Brown  loell.  Perhaps,  his  own 
family  circle  excepted,  I  was  as  well  acquainted 
with  him  as  any  one ;  our  friendship,  close,  cor- 
dial, and  sincere,  lasted  nearly  thirty  years.  Often 
did  we  confer  not  only  upon  church  affairs,  but 
upon  subjects  only  mentioned  among  friends  most 
intimate  and  enjoying  the  full  confidence  of  each 
other.  As  his  family  phj^sician,  we  were  brought 
together  under  circumstances  which  draw  men 
into  a  close  communion  and  afford  ample  opportu- 
nities for  looking  into  character. 

"  T  love  to  think  of  Dr.  Brown  as  a  brave  man ! 
With  unfeigned  feelings  of  admiration,  I  contem- 
plate his  humility  of  spirit,  kindness  of  heart,  his 
sympathizing  words  in  the  dark  hours  of  affliction 
and  grief,  his  hospitality,  but,  more  than  all,  his 
eminent 2)iety .  It  is  no  vain  panegyric  to  add,  that 
Dr.  A.  B.  Brown  was  one  of  the  most  pious  men  I 
have  ever  known.   I  think  I  know  whereof  I  write. 

"  Some  good  people  did  not  know^  enough  of  him 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  87 

to  form  correct  ideas  of  his  character.  By  many 
the  opinion  has  been  entertained  that  he  was 
'  austere '  and  not  easily  approached,  that  he  did 
not  quickly  appreciate  the  troubles  of  others. 
Never!  never  was  a  greater  mistake  made  in  the 
character  of  a  man  ! 

"  It  was  his  modesty  rather  than  austerity  which 
caused  those  slightly,  or  not  at  all  acquainted  with 
him,  to  arrive  at  such  a  conclusion. 

"  Imperfectly,  and  pressed  for  time,  have  I  per- 
formed the  task  assigned  me,  of  giving  my  recol- 
lections of  Dr.  Brown  while  the  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Hampton. 

"  I  must  be  pardoned  if  while  writing,  I  have 
occasionally  turned  from  closely  following  my  sub- 
ject, to  pay  an  humble  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
our  departed  friend.  Others  will  perform  this imrt 
of  the  work  far  better  than  I  can  hope  to  do,  and 
by  them  this  pleasant  duty  will  be  well  performed. 

"Wm.  R.  Vaughan." 

It  seems  proper  that  the  foregoing  paper  should 
be  supplemented  by  another,  furnished  by  one  of 
Virginia's  most  devout  and  gifted  sons.  In  some 
respects  there  was  a  striking  resemblance  in  char- 
acter and  scholarship,  as  there  was  also  an  inti- 
mate friendship,  between    Dr.  K.  B.  Brown  and 


88  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Dr.  J.  C.  Hiden.  It  is  pleasant,  therefore,  to 
present  Dr.  Hiden's  reminiscences  of  his  deceased 
friend : 

"  My  first  acquaintance  with  Bro.  Brown  was 
formed  at  Hampton,  Va.,  where  he  was  then  pas- 
tor. In  the  fall  of  1857,  I  had  been  elected  a 
professor  in  Chesapeake  Female  College.  Bro. 
Brown  was  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
College.  Our  acquaintance  soon  ripened  into  a 
warm,  intimate  and  life-long  friendship.  He  was 
my  pastor,  and  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  Col- 
lege, where  he  was  always  gladly  received  and 
warmly  welcomed ;  and  I  was,  in  turn,  a  frequent 
visitor  at  his  house,  and  spent  many  a  happy  and 
profitable  hour  in  the  most  intimate  converse  with 
him  in  his  study. 

"  Though  he  w^as  a  very  close  student,  and  an 
omnivorous  reader  in  general  literature,  he  never 
showed  the  slightest  sign  of  being  interrupted  by 
the  frequent  visits  of  a  raw  and  inexperienced 
youth  of  twenty,  who  had  seen  little  of  the  world, 
and  from  whose  conversation  little  could  have  been 
learned.  In  more  than  one  particular,  Bro.  Brown 
reminded  me  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  but  especially 
was  he  like  Mr.  Calhoun  in  his  great  fondness  for 
the  socictj'  of  young  men. 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  89 

"  At  this  period  I  was  not  sufficiently  trained 
to  be  able  to  appreciate,  nor  even  to  follow,  the 
great  preacher  in  his  best  pulpit  work.  He  delved 
so  deep,  and  soared  so  high  that  I  was  not  unfre- 
quently  left  behind.  He  had  Lewis  Minor  Cole- 
man's "  range,"  but  he  often  overshot  mine.  Still, 
I  was  not  always  out  of  range,  and  was  frequently 
hit  by  a  centre  shot:  and  this  happened  often 
enough  to  convince  me  that  the  gun  was  one  of 
powerful  metal,  and  that  the  ammunition  used  was 
of  the  best. 

"  Now  and  then  I  was  especially  struck  with 
his  extraordinary  capacity  and  skill  in  the  use 
of  Scripture  quotations.  He  would  bring  them  in 
at  the  most  unexpected  points,  and  would  choose 
them  from  the  most  unexpected  places.  As  an 
instance  of  this,  I  recall,  after  twenty-eight  years, 
and  I  am  confident  almost  verbatim,  the  language 
I  heard  him  use  in  a  most  earnest  and  powerful 
exhortation  to  the  unconverted :  '  Sinner,  how 
know  you  but  that  even  now  the  recording  angel 
is  writing  down  the  last  sin  that  shall  fill  up  the 
black  account  of  your  rebellions  against  your 
Maker;  and  as  he  closes  the  book  says,  in  the 
words  of  Pontius  Pilate,  'What  I  have  written  I 
have  written ! ' ' 

"  The  child-like  candor  and  simplicity  of  Bro. 

F 


90  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BKOWX,  DD.  LLD. 

Brown's  nature  was  such  as  now  and  then  to  lead 
him  to  do  or  say  what  seemed  to  be  rather  eccen- 
tric thin2;s.  As  an  instance  of  his  uncommon 
candor:  On  a  certain  Sunday,  just  after  taking 
his  stand  to  preach,  he  said,  '  I  suspect  that  some 
of  my  hearers  to-day  will  think,  what  I  cannot  but 
agree  with  them  in  thinking,  that  the  discourse 
is  not  even  up  to  my  usual  imperfect  standard  of 
preparation.  My  excuse  is  that  I  have  been  so 
engaged  during  the  week  that  I  have  not  given 
my  usual  amount  of  time  to  the  preparation  for 
my  pulpit  work  to-day.'  This  sounded  a  little 
odd ;  but  when,  a  few  days  after  this,  I  was  ad- 
mitted behind  the  scenes  and  learned  how  he  had 
^  been  so  engaged  during  the  past  week,'  the  Avhole 
thing  appeared  to  be  eminently  characteristic.  The 
truth  was  that  Bro.  Brown  had  just  gotten  pos- 
session of  Randall's  Life  of  Jefferson,  and  to  a 
thorough-going  States-rights  Democrat,  this  was  a 
bonanza  which  so  took  possession  of  his  mind  as 
to  cheat  him  out  of  his  time  and  steal  aAvay  his 
attention;  and  then,  when  Sunday  came,  he  felt 
so  conscious  of  his  lack  of  preparation,  that  he 
was  constrained  to  make  the  apology  recorded 
above.  A  day  or  two  after  this  apology  I  was  in 
his  study,  and,  pointing  to  Randall's  book,  which 
was  lying  on  his  study  table,  he  said :    '  Hiden, 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  91 

there  is  the  fellow  that  robbed  me  of  my  time  last 
week  and  sent  me  only  half  prepared  into  my 
pulpit  Sunday.'  If  he  had  not  taken  the  trouble 
to  tell  us  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  preach,  I 
have  not  the  least  idea  that  any  one  woukl  have 
suspected  it.  Indeed,  his  mind  was  so  full  that 
its  ordinary  overflowings,  like  those  of  the  Nile, 
were  exceedingly  fertilizing. 

"  After  leaving  Chesapeake  College,  I  entered 
the  University  of  Virginia,  as  a  student,  and  for  a 
year  heard  John  A.  Broadus,  who  was  then  pastor 
of  our  church  in  Charlottesville.  At  the  close  of 
that  year  Bro.  Broadus  resigned  the  pastorate  to 
enter  upon  his  work  as  a  professor  in  our  Theo- 
logical Seminary ;  and  A.  B.  Brown  was  called  to 
succeed  him  in  Charlottesville.  Then  Bro.  Brown 
again  became  practically  my  pastor;  and  it  puzzles 
me  even  now  to  tell  whether  the  change  from 
Broadus  to  Brown  was  a  good  thing  for  me.  It 
would  require  a  much  more  self-confident  critic 
than  I  to  say  anything  positivel}^  on  such  a  ques- 
tion. It  is  as  hard  as  to  say  which  of  the  great 
English  classic  writers  one  enjoys  most,  or  to  settle 
the  comparative  merits  of  '  Bleak  House '  and  the 
'  Caxtons.'  I  shall  make  no  attempt  to  compare 
the  two  preachers;  but  I  will  say  that  each 
is  the  only  one  that  I  ever  liked  to  hear  follow 


92  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

the    other,   unless    Tiherius   Jones   could    be    got 
to  do  it. 

"  Soon  after  Bro.  Brown  took  charge  in  Char- 
lottesville, I  happened  to  drop  in  at  Prof.  Lewis 
Minor  Coleman's  Study.  He  had  heard  Bro. 
Brown  for  the  first  time  in  Charlottesville,  and 
was  enthusiastic  in  praising  his  preaching.  He 
said,  '  Mr.  Hiden,  who  is  this  man  Brown  ?  Where 
did  he  come  from  ?  I  did  not  know  that  we  had 
such  a  man  among  us;'  and  from  that  time  on. 
Brown  'had  Coleman's  range.' 

"It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  onl}'  culti- 
vated thinkers  could  follow  Browni ;  that  he  w^as 
'  too  metaphysical '  for  the  common  mind.  There 
is  some  truth  in  this  ;  but  it  is  misleading  neverthe- 
less. It  is  no  compliment  to  any  man's  style  to 
say  that  you  can  follow  him  '  without  thinking.' 
It  is  the  sjDcaker's  business  to  make  you  think  ; 
and  if  you  follow  him  without  thinking,  then  you 
would  do  well  to  go  elsewhither  and  hear  another 
man. 

"  Bro.  Brown  once,  while  in  Charlottesville, 
heard  of  some  criticism  of  his  ' metaph}- sical ' 
preaching,  and  somewhat  characteristically  men- 
tioned it  from  his  pulpit.  After  stating  the 
nature  of  the  criticism,  he  said  :  'A  large  part 
of  what  people   have  chosen   to  call  metaphysics 


THE  HAMPTON  PASTOR.  93 

comes  out  of  this  book/  (laying  his  hand  on 
the  Bible.) 

"About  this  time,  I  heard  a  jDlain,  hard-headed 
mechanic,  a  member  of  Bro.  Brown's  church  and 
an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  his  preaching,  say  :  '  I 
hear  folks  complain  that  they  can't  understand 
Brown ;  but  I  believe  it  is  because  they  know  so 
little  about  their  Bibles.' 

"  However  it  may  be  explained,  or  whether  ex- 
plained at  all,  it  is  certainly  true,  that  not  a  few 
people,  who  never  read  a  book  on  metaphysics,  and 
did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  term,  did  greatly 
enjoy,  admire  and  profit  by  Bro.  Brown's  preaching. 

"  But  Bro.  Bro^vn  was  not  only  a  great  jDreacher 
— he  was  a  capital  listener.  Never  shall  I  forget 
the  help  and  comfort  which,  as  a  listener,  he  has 
frequently  given  me,  notably  within  the  last  two 
summers,  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  preaching 
to  him  several  times  in  Grace  Street  Church, 
Richmond,  Va.  To  see  his  fixed  and  eager  gaze, 
as  he  leaned  forward  to  catch  every  word ;  to  feel 
the  warm  grasp  of  his  hand  when  the  preaching 
was  over,  and  to  hear  his  words  of  sympathy  and 
kindly  appreciation — all  this  was  truly  inspiring. 
And  thus  he  listened  to  every  preacher  who  pro- 
claimed honestly  and  in  his  own  way,  the  great 
fundamental  truths  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.     He 


94  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

was  a  man  with  an  open  sense — indeed  one  of  the 

most  broad-minded  men  I  have  ever  known.  Never 

did  I  know  any  man  w4io  more  fully  embodied  in 

his  own  character  and  conduct  the  aphorism  of 

Terence  :  '  I  am  a  man,  and  think  nothing  human 

foreign  to  me.' 

"J.   C.    HiDEN." 
Lexington,  Ky. 


FIRST  SERMON  DELIVERED  IN   HAMPTON. 


"I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
Him  crucified." — 1  Cor.  xi.  2. 

This  was  the  resolution  which  governed  the  apostle  in  the 
proclamation  of  the  gospel.  And  this  well  deserves  to  be 
the  model  of  the  guiding  purpose  of  every  herald  of  the  cross. 

The  apostle  says,  "  I  determined  not  to  know  anything 
among  you  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified,"  but  there 
seems  to  be  no  emphasis  on  the  Avord  you,  in  this  connection, 
to  show  that  the  apostle  felt  it  important  to  use  special  reserve 
in  his  ministrations  among  this  people.  The  meaning  is  not 
that  he  would  not  preach  anything  but  Christ  Crucified  espe- 
cially among  them ;  but  tliut  he  would  not  preach  anything 
else — even  among  them.  Their  attachment  to  philosophical 
speculations  should  not  influence  him  to  attempt  an  adjust- 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  95 

ment  of  the  gospel  to  Grecian  systems,  nor  to  apologize  for  its 
want  of  harmony  with  them,  as  though  it  needed  the  patronage 
of  human  science.  The  Greeks  maintained  the  most  admired 
schools  of  rhetoric,  and  delighted  in  eloquence.  Doubtless 
the  apostle  might  have  conciliated  some  popularity  to  his 
system,  by  couching  it,  in  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom. 
But  he  was  too  honest,  too  manly,  too  prudent,  to  gain  a 
temporary  advantage  for  his  doctrines,  by  diluting  them  with 
human  wisdom,  or  masking  them  with  human  eloquence.  If 
men  gave  in  their  adhesion  to  his  system,  it  should  be  to 
the  plain,  unmitigated,  offensive  gospel.  It  should  be  to  the 
gospel,  the  whole  gospel,  and  nothing  but  the  gospel. 

The  cross  was  the  central  test  truth  of  the  system.  It  Avas 
the  shibboleth  of  the  new  faith,  and  no  minced  shibboleth 
would  answer  its  purpose.  Paul  had  seen,  not  what  Con- 
stantine  is  reputed  to  have  seen  300  years  afterwards,  the 
sign  of  the  cross  in  the  heavens ;  but  he  had  seen  the  crucified 
one  himself;  he  had  had  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  revealed  to 
him,  and  had  in  effect,  heard  what  Constantino  is  fabled  to 
have  heard ;  "  Conquer  by  This." 

No  one  might  say,  "There  is  nothing  strange  or  super- 
natural in  the  spread  of  this  gospel.  Paul  is  a  great  genius. 
He  has  convinced  men  by  an  ingenuity  and  speciousness  of 
reasoning,  which  might  have  made  them  accept  any  absurdity; 
he  has  overwhelmed  them,  with  a  torrent  of  oratory  which 
would  have  given  charms,  to  any  cunningly  devised  fable." 
No,  the  excellency  should  be  of  God  and  not  of  him.  The 
faith  of  his  followers  should  depend   upon   the   demonstra- 


96  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

tiou  of  the  Spirit  aud  of  power.  For  these  reasons  Paul 
determined  not  to  know  anything  among  the  Corinthians  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  Him   crucified. 

But  how  shall  we  understand,  his  not  determining  to  know 
anything  else?  Could  he  purposely  forget,  the  instructions 
of  Gamaliel,  his  distinguished  master  in  Jewish  learning  ? 
Could  he  by  an  act  of  will,  annihilate  his  knowledge  of 
Grecian  philosophy  ?  Could  he  erase  from  his  memory  every 
record  of  experience,  and  every  impress  of  observation,  except 
the  very  essence  of  the  gospel  ?  Certainly  not.  But  he  could, 
and  did  of  set  purpose,  forbear  to  avail  himself  of  any  aid, 
he  might  find  in  them  to  lessen  the  offence  of  the  gospel. 
Though  he  might  be  all  things  to  all  men  in  the  manner  of 
his  preaching,  and  in  the  illustration  of  his  great  theme,  his 
subject  and  his  doctrine,  he  would  draw  only  from  Calvary. 
Whatever  else  he  might  know,  he  did  not  know  officially,  as 
an  ambassador  of  heaven.  Our  minister  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James  may  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  political  and  other 
affairs  in  our  country,  but  fs  the  representative  of  his  country, 
at  that  court,  he  will  properly  restrict  himself  to  knowing 
only,  what  is  found  in  his  letter  of  instructions. 

And  Paul  as  an  ambassador  for  Christ,  praying  men  in 
Christ's  stead  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  w'ould  know  only  Him 
who  knowing  no  sin,  was  made  sin  for  us,  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him.  This  renunciation  of 
all  otiier  knowledge  for  the  knowledge  of  Jesus,  must  have 
cost  Paul  an  effort  of  self  denial.  Had  he  known  nought 
else   in   any   sense,   it   would    not    have    been   necessary    to 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  97 

determine  to  kuow  nothing  else.  But  he  had  spent  his  youth 
in  the  study  of  the  Jews'  religion,  and  profited  above  many 
his  equals. 

He  would  seem  to  have  had  some  acquaintance,  with  Grecian 
learning.  Now  to  have  been  willing  to  withdraw  himself  from 
fields,  in  which  his  mind  had  long  loved  to  expatiate,  must 
have  required  an  effort,  and  his  piety  must  have  been  ardent 
beyond  modern  example,  if  this  effort  did  not  amount  to  a 
struggle.  But,  to  be  willing  in  the  midst  of  a  highly  polished 
people,  to  be  accounted  rude  and  ignorant  from  failure  in 
disposition  to  exhibit  his  knowledge,  displayed  a  moral 
heroism  of  the  highest  order.  I  have  said  that  Paul  appears 
to  have  had  some  acquaintance  w'ith  Grecian  learning,  but 
there  is  no  proof  of  his  eminent  proficiency  in  it,  which  some 
claim  for  him.  He  was  brought  up,  in  a  Grecian  city,  of  no 
mean  reputation,  but  how  many  reared  in  Grecian  or  American 
cities,  fail  to  attain  the  polish,  for  which  these  cities  are  dis- 
tinguished. He  was  brought  up  in  Jerusalem  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  interpolate  into  Gamaliel's 
course  of  instruction,  anything  not  authorized  by  the  record. 
Now,  Gamaliel  was  a  teacher  of  the  Jewish  law,  and  so  far  as 
we  know,  a  teacher  of  Jewish  law  only.  But  Paul  quotes  in 
his  writings  from  Grecian  authors  These  quotations  amount 
in  all  his  speeches  and  epistles  to  three.  But  it  would  be  as 
illegitimate  to  infer  from  these,  extensive  acquaintance  with 
Grecian  literature,  as  to  infer  from  the  same  number  of 
quotations  from  Sliakspeare,  Addison  and  Scott,  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  English  classics. 


98  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Besides,  the  apostle's  style  is,  confessedly,  not  pure  classic 
Greek;  but  the  Holy  Spirit  whilst  guiding  the  mind  into  all 
truth,  and  securing  a  faithful  expression  of  his  (right)  meaning, 
seems  throughout  the  entire  canon  of  the  Scriptures,  to  have  left 
the  sacred  writers,  to  their  natural  and  habitual  style.  Such 
then  was  Paul's  customary  style,  and  the  fact  is  inconsistent 
with  his  being  an  elegant  Greek  scholar.  Evidently,  Paul  had 
considerable  learning  which  might  have  secured  him  respect 
among  the  Greeks,  if  in  singleness  of  heart  he  had  not 
determined  to  know  nothing  among  them  save  Jesus  Christ, 
and  Him  crucified. 

Having  considered  the  temptations  which  the  apostle  had 
to  corrupt  the  gospel;  let  us  now  direct  our  attention,  to  that 
doctrine  which  he  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  proclaim.  He 
would  know  before  them  the  character  which  Jesus  Christ 
displayed  in  His  personal  history.  An  intimate  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  Messiah,  so  as  to  be  brought  under  the 
transforming  influence  of  His  heavenly  example,  was  thought 
to  be  so  important  to  an  apostle,  that  when  Peter  set  before 
the  120  disciples,  who  prayerfully  awaited  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  qualifications  of  an  apostle  to  succeed 
Judas,  he  insisted  that  he  should  be  one  who  had  companied 
with  the  disciples  all  the  time,  from  the  baptism  of  John  to 
the  ascension  of  Jesus.  But  Paul,  who  seems  never  to  have 
seen  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  till  he  saw  Him  in  His  trans- 
figured glory,  on  the  journey  to  Damascus,  had  the  whole 
character  and  history  of  Jesus  so  fully  impressed  on  his  mind, 
by  special  revelations  that,  when  after  a  lapse  of  years  spent 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  99 

in  preaching,  he  conferred  with  Peter,  James  and  John,  on 
the  doctrine  which  he  had  preached,  these  pillars  in  the  church, 
who  might  well  seem  to  be  somewhat,  added  nothing  to  him 
in  conference.  Paul  kept  in  view  the  character  of  Jesus 
as  a  man,  but  with  all  the  strength  of  Jewish  attachments, 
which  could  make  him  willing  to  be  accursed  from  God  for 
their  sake,  he  knew  not  as  a  Jew ;  "  yea,"  says  he,  "  though  we 
have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  henceforth  know 
we  Him  no  more."  Let  us  study  the  character  of  Jesus  to 
find  a  precedent,  for  our  own  conduct  in  every  imaginable 
circumstance.  AVe  have  not  a  master  who  binds  for  our 
shoulders  burdens  grievous  to  be  borne,  Avhich  He  Himself  will 
not  touch  with  one  of  His  fingers ;  but  one  who  shows  the 
practicableness  of  His  commandments,  by  assuming  a  nature 
which  brought  Him  under  law,  and  magnifying  law  and 
making  it  honorable. 

Paul  knew  only  Christ  as  his  Lawgiver.  True,  the 
heathen  who  knew  not  the  law  was  a  law  unto  himself.  The 
light  of  nature  was  his  only  guide ;  but  Christ  legislated  on 
every  subject,  on  which  nature  had  given  law.  When  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  arose  with  healing  in  his  wings,  the 
starlight  of  nature  was  not  left  to  throw  its  glimmer  on  one 
tract  of  duty,  w'hile  the  brighter  luminary  dispensed  his  beams 
on  another.  The  latter  swallowed  up  the  former  on  every 
field.  The  minute  philosopher  might,  if  he  could,  adjust  the 
proportion  between  them,  as  the  minute  astronomer  may 
amuse  his  leisure,  by  inquiring  how  much  the  twinkling  of 
the  dogstar  helps  out  the  solar  blaze.  The  earnest  and  practi- 
cal Paul  would  know  only  the  all-absorbinglight. 


100  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Moses  was  a  Divine  teacher,  and  he  is  now  a  Divine 
teacher  of  great  value ;  but  Moses  was,  and  is,  but  a  school- 
master to  bring  us  to  Christ ;  he  is  but  the  pedagogue  that 
leads  on  to  the  great  Teacher  and  King.  All  the  enactments 
of  the  old  dispensation  which  are  now  binding,  are  condensed 
and  consolidated  in  this  revised  code,  though  the  student  of 
Divine  law,  like  the  student  of  municipal  law,  may  find  great 
aid  in  interpreting  the  condensed  code,  by  traveling  through 
the  previous  enactments.  The  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the 
old  dispensation,  the  shadows  of  good  tliiugs  to  come,  and  not 
the  very  image  of  those  things,  taught  like  a  pictorial  primer 
what  is  more  clearly  taught,  without  the  aid  of  shadows  in  the 
new  dispensation.  All  of  the  cumbrous  ceremonies  of  the  law, 
which  constituted  a  yoke  intolerable,  were  substituted  by 
simple  ordinances — baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper — expressly 
commanded  by  the  King  in  Zion.  Everything  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  is  fixed  by  His  own  commandment,  Christ  has 
given  it  no  legislative  power;  it  can  interpret  and  execute  His 
laws — it  can  go  no  farther.  The  outer  organization  of  the 
Christian  Church,  given  in  all  its  details  by  its  Head,  may  not 
be  so  important  as  its  inner  spirit;  but  God  who  has  given  man 
a  body  suited  to  his  soul,  has  given  the  Church  a  body  suited 
to  its  spirit,  and  no  man  may  alter  it  in  anything.  The 
apostle  knew  Clirist,  as  his  perfect  example ;  he  knew  Him  as 
his  absolute  prince ;  he  knew  Him  as  crucified  for  the  sins  of 
the  world.  It  was  this  last  truth,  that  constituted  the  burden 
of  the  apostle's  preaching — Christ  Crucified. 

The  carnal  enmity  of  men  was  called  out  in  special  fierceness 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  101 

against  this  distinguishing  and  essential  doctrine  of  the  Gos- 
pel. The  Jews  anxiously  longed  for  the  advent  of  a  prince 
possessed  of  every  title  to  earthly  honor,  who  should  break  in 
pieces  the  rod  of  the  Roman  oppressor  ;  and  this  personage 
who,  as  they  had  trusted,  was  to  redeem  Israel,  had  been  nailed 
to  the  shameful  cross.  Such  a  Christ  was  naturally  a  stone  of 
stumbling  and  rock  of  offence  to  the  Jews.  The  Greeks  felt 
a  lordly  contempt,  for  the  reputed  Divinity,  who  had  ended  his 
days  on  the  cross.  Their  whole  philosophy,  most  of  it  pei-- 
vaded  by  materialism,  revolted  at  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
as  contradicted  by  experience  and  abhorrent  to  reason.  But 
this  very  doctrine  was  the  only  one  in  which  Paul  would 
glory.     Christ  was  a  martyr  for  truth. 

Whilst  the  common  people  heard  Him  gladly.  His  doctrine 
was  too  pure  to  excite  great  sympathy,  in  the  mass  of  men  of 
any  generation ;  and  his  unsparing  exposures  and  denuncia- 
tions of  spiritual  weakness  in  high  places,  brought  upon  him 
the  inexorable  hate  of  the  ruling  classes.  These  cloaked  their 
hellish  purposes  from  others,  and  perhaps  from  themselves, 
under  the  guise  of  patriotic  concern  for  the  perpetuity  of  their 
place  and  nation,  and  loyalty  to  the  government  of  Ctesar ; 
but  Pilate  knew  that  for  envy,  they  had  delivered  Him. 
Christ,  said  of  Himself,  that  He  came  forth  to  bear  witness  of 
the  truth,  and  He  truly  sealed  His  testimony  with  His  blood. 
But  Paul  saw  in  the  crucifixion  a  higher  truth  than  this. 

The  first  principle  in  his  summary  of  the  Christian  faith  is, 
"  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures."  This 
precious,  fundamental  truth,  is  again  and  again  set  forth  in 


102  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

concise  and  naked  grandeur.  Paul  does  not  invite  the  tears 
of  hearers  or  readers,  by  theatrical  representations  of  a  Saviour 
treading  in  Gethsemane  the  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God 
alone.  He  alludes  not  to  tlie  traitorous  kiss,  and  the  uplifted 
heel  of  the  familiar  friend.  He  paints  not  the  dark  scowl  of 
the  midnight  inquisitors,  ravening  for  blood.  He  excites  no  in- 
dignation agjiinst  the  fickle  multitude  that  greeted  the  Messiah 
^Yith  hosannas  to-day,  and  were  set  on  to  cry,  "  Away  with 
Him,"  to-morrow.  He  forbears  to  scourge  with  a  scorpion  lash, 
the  time-serving  politician  Avho  acknowledged,  and  as  far  as 
he  might  quietly,  contended  that  Jesus  was  guiltless,  and  was 
still  willing  to  content  the  fiendish  appetite  of  the  populace 
with  innocent  blood.  He  does  not  detain  our  attention  on  the 
gory  cross,  the  rude  spikes,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the  intolei-a- 
ble  thirst  and  all  the  horrible  details  of  that  grand  tragedy, 
which  might  have  held  angels  and  devils  in  breathless  atten- 
tion. No,  he  did  not  ask  sinners  to  weep  over  the  suflferings 
of  the  man  of  sorrows ;  over  which  many  sinners  have  wept 
at  the  prompting  of  natural  sympathy,  whilst  they  were  still 
in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity ;  and 
whilst  they  would  not  have  the  man  Christ  Jesus  to  reign 
over  them.  No,  it  was  the  sacrificial  character  of  the  Saviour's 
death,  that  was  its  important  feature  in  the  eyes  of  the 
apostle.  To  collate  all  the  texts  in  the  epistles  of  Paul,  which 
directly  assert  or  clearly  imply  the  vicarious  nature  of  a 
Saviour's  death,  would  be  to  transcribe  a  large  portion  of 
these  writings.  And  well  may  it  occupy  so  much  space,  for 
it  supports  and  involves  every  other  truth  in  the  gospel.     Did 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  103 

Christ  lead  an  irreproachable  life — it  was  that  He  might  die  a 
lamb  without  spot  or  blemish.     Is  Christ  our  king — His  title- 
deed  rests  not  simply  on  a  natural  and  easy  inheritance.     His 
revolted  empire  was  to  be  redeemed  from  mortgage  to  the  law 
of  God,  demanding  the  eternal  death  of  every  one  of  His 
subjects.      He  hath   bought   us  with   His  own    blood,  shed 
on  Calvary.     The  doctrine  of  Christ  Crucified,  involves  the 
original  and  total  depravity  of  the  human  race.     The  offering 
of  Christ  on  Calvary  had  been  a  grand,  but  empty  pageant,  if 
man  had  been  an  innocent  being.     Well  might  it  be  asked  on 
this  supposition,  whence  all  this  waste?      Starting  from  the 
doctrine   of  inherent   sin,   the  mind  is  shut  up  in  hopeless 
despair,  till  the  rainbow  of  promise,  inscribed  Christ  Crucified, 
spans  the  dark  cloud  of  divine  wrath.     Well  may  the  Uni- 
tarian and  the  Universalist,  who  have   healed   slightly  the 
disease  of  their  people,  because  they  have  never  probed  its 
depths,  deny  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  vicariousness  of 
His  suffering.     But  he  whose  conscience  has  responded  to  the 
dark  picture  of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  drawn  by  Paul  in  the 
first  part  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  will  feel  that  he  needs 
in  God,  manifest  in  the  flesh,  a  Saviour  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost,  all  who  come  to   God  by  him.     The  doctrine  of 
Christ  crucified  for  sin,  is  the  truth  which  the  Holy  Spirit  uses 
in  the  conversion,  and  sanctification  of  our  natures.     Thus,  to 
preach  Christ,  is  to  preach  the  necessity  of  regeneration  ;  it  is 
to  exhibit  the  only  name,  given  under  heaven  among  men, 
whereby  we  can  be  saved.     It  is  to  hold  up  Christ  as  com- 
manding every  duty,  whether  moral  or  ceremonial,  to  urge  as 


104  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

the  great  motive  to  obedience,  the  love  of  Christ,  which  con- 
straiueth  us ;  then  to  preach  Christ  Crucified,  is  to  preach 
the  entire  gospel.  The  text  might  seem  to  be  designed  as 
a  directory  to  the  minister  of  the  gospel — and  you  may 
naturally  inquire,  why  make  it  the  basis  of  a  sermon?  I 
reply,  that  in  the  first  place,  it  afforded  me  as  good  an  oppor- 
tunity as  I  could  find,  to  proclaim  that  gospel  which  the  text 
binds  me  to  declare.  Secondly,  it  is  proper  that  I  should 
indicate  on  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  the  principles 
which  ought  to  guide  me  in  my  ministrations  among  you. 
So  that  the  Church,  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authority,  may 
be  the  better  prepared  to  hold  me  to  a  strict  accountability 
for  the  proper  discharge  of  my  office.  But  lastly  and  chiefly, 
I  shall  be  the  better  prepared  to  preach  the  gospel,  when  the 
Church  is  determined  to  countenance  and  sustain  the  pure 
gospel. 

It  is  almost  incalculable  to  what  extent  pastor  and  people 
mutually  aflx'ct  each  other.  We  are  all  creatures  of  sympathy. 
We  feel  an  instinctive  and  almost  irresistible  disposition  to 
adapt  ourselves  to  the  views  and  tastes  of  those,  with  whom  we 
associate.  We  do  it  unconsciously.  The  people  will  find  it 
difficult  to  resist  the  continual  droppings  of  heresy  or  formalism 
from  the  pulpit.  The  preacher,  when  he  finds  that  the  simple 
gospel  is  not  acceptable  to  his  people,  will  be  tempted  to  begin, 
before  he  knows  it,  to  preach  to  them  another  gospel.  I  am 
the  more  solicitous  to  impress  this  truth,  because  I  fear  that 
with  all  the  outward  prosperity  of  the  church  and  with  all  the 
improvement  in  the  machinery  of  her  benevolent  operations, 


FIRST  SERMON  IN  HAMPTON.  105 

the  gospel  is  losing  its  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Men  will  hear  the  gospel  now,  if  it  is  done  up  in  a  way  to  suit 
their  fastidious  tastes.  If,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  new  order  of 
medical  practitioners,  you  administer  very  small,  infinitesimal 
doses  of  the  gospel,  mixed  with  other  inert  and  often  neutral- 
izi)ig  elements,  they  will  hear  it.  Brethren,  that  is  no  healthy, 
moral,  religious  appetite  that  cannot  relish  plain  food  without 
the  admixture  of  tempting  condiments.  Men  may  love  able 
discourses,  eloquent  discourses,  splendid  declamations ;  but  if 
we  come  before  them,  with  the  plain,  robust  gospel  of  the  apostle, 
they  will  not  receive  it.  Let  Jesus  come  to  His  own  in  His 
gospel  and  His  own  receive  Him  not ;  these  are  the  wounds 
which  He  receives  in  the  house  of  His  friends.  Men  think 
they  need  something  more  practical  than  the  doctrinal  preach- 
ing of  Christ  Crucified.  Never  was  there  a  greater  mistake. 
The  New  Testament  is  full  of  practical  duties,  but  all  connected 
with  the  Cross, — all  utilized  by  this  head  and  this  heart,  and 
to  preach  them  apart  from  it,  is  as  absurd  as  to  dissever  the 
running-gear  of  a  machine  from  the  motive  power.  We  may 
have  a  beautiful,  well-articulated  system  of  morals,  but  we 
might  as  well  attempt  to  move  the  machinery  of  a  steam  engine 
with  the  smith's  bellows,  as  attempt  to  animate  them  without 
motives  drawn  from  the  spirit-world.  The  doctrine  of  Christ 
Crucified  is  really  adapted  to  the  wants  of  saints  and  of  sin- 
ners. What  convinces  one  of  sin,  is  what  abases  the  other 
still  more  in  humility.  What  encourages  the  one  to  trust  for 
the  first  time,  is  what  builds  up  the  other,  in  his  most  holy 
faith.     Witness  the  result  in  well  conducted  protracted  meet- 

o 


106  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLl). 

ings,  where  the  gospel  is  preached,  as  perhaps  it  ought  to  be 
on  other  occasions.  Do  Christians  ever  seem  to  grow  more  in 
the  divine  life,  than  under  appliances  specially  designed  for 
the  unconverted  ?  But  finally,  to  preach  Christ  Crucified, 
would  necessitate  sameness  and  monotony  in  our  discourses. 
Perhaps  it  may  in  the  estimation  of  the  natural  man,  who  dis 
cerneth  not  the  things,  of  the  Spirit.  To  the  necessary  limita- 
tion of  our  scope,  we  would,  however,  cheerfully  submit.  Still 
our  theme  is  rich.  Angels  desire  to  look  into  the  great 
mystery  of  godliness.  Saints  in  heaven  will  find  unceasing 
themes  in  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth  of  redeeming  love. 

A  few  colors  present  all  the  various  tints  of  the  landscape. 
A  few  elements  in  their  protean  forms  of  combination  make 
up  the  almost  infinite  variety  of  separate  existence.  A  few 
truths  animated  all  the  varied  epistles  of  Paul :  a  few  senti- 
ments the  multiform  Psalms  of  David.  Besides,  we  miist 
continue  to  study  this  subject.  No  teacher  will  interest  his 
pupils,  who  is  not  prosecuting  inquiries  in  the  branch  iu  which 
he  teaches.  Even  Paul  is  constantly  extending  his  knowledge. 
He  tells  us  in  his  epistles  that  he  counted  not  himself  to  have 
attained.  There  were  untrodden  heights  which  he  was  eager 
to  scale.  He  was  laboring  to  know  Christ,  and  the  power  of 
His  resurrection. 

With  similar  zeal  I  hope  to  do  something  to  interest  you. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  107 


CHAPTER  VI. 

niS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE. 

rpHE  political  agitation  that  culminated  in  the 
-^  war  between  the  States,  w^as  preceded  in  Vir- 
ginia by  an  era  of  unusual  mental  activity — and 
this  was  the  leojitimate  outcome  of  the  marked 
prosperity  of  the  country.  Next  to  liberty,  edu- 
cation was  considered  the  highest  boon  of  an 
American  citizen.  Primary  schools,  and  Academies 
and  Institutes  were  springing  up  all  over  the 
country.  Richmond,  Hampden — Sydney,  AVilliam 
and  Mary,  Washington,  and  Randolph, — Macon, 
Colleges,  took  on  new  equipments,  and  yearly 
poured  into  the  State  University,  scores  of  gifted 
young  men. 

Not  only  from  A^irginia,  but  from  almost  every 
State  in  the  Union,  came  students  to  this  noble 
Institution  of  learning.  At  that  time  it  was 
in  the  fulness  of  its  glory.  Its  matriculates 
numbered  over  six  hundred  annually.  No  other 
University  South,  competed  with  it,  in  patronage 
or  scholarship.  Its  Commencements,  on  the  29th 
of  June,  drew  together  great  crowds  of  the  friends 


108  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

of  learning  from  tliis,  and  other  states  as  well. 
One  of  the  finest  addresses  to  which  the  writer 
ever  listened — in  point  of  impassioned  eloquence 
and  of  popular  power — was  delivered  29th  of  June, 
1860,  by  Hon.  Mr.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  who  was 
then  the  orator  of  the  Literary  Societies. 

Charlottesville,  the  seat  of  the  University,  was 
then  appropriately  styled  the  Athens  of  America, 
if  any  town,  outside  of  Boston,  could  justly  wear 
such  a  title.     The  very  atmosphere  of  the  place 
was  literary.     Society,   politics,   and  religion  re- 
ceived  the    intellectual   stamp.     Besides   several 
prosperous   preparatory  schools,  there   were    two 
large  Institutes  in  the  town,  in  flourishing  condi- 
tion :  the  E[)iscopal  and  the  Baptist.     The  latter 
established  mainly  by  such  liberal  hearted  Baptists 
of  the  town,  as  Wm.  P.  Farish,  A.  P.  Abell,  the 
Randolphs,  the  Bibbs,  and  others.     The  Principal 
of  the  Institute  was  Prof.  John  Hart,  who  had 
graduated  from  the  University,  with  the  degree  of 
M.  A.  with  distinguished  honors.     He  aimed  to 
make  it  as  far  as  possible,  for  females,  what  the 
University  was  for  the  males.     The  members  of 
his  Faculty,  were  nearly  all  M.  A.'s  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  the  subjects  taught  and  text  books  used 
in  many  of  the  schools,  were  the  same.    The  grade 
of  scholarship,  and  extent  of  its  curriculum  was 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  109 

not  excelled  by  any  female  institution,  in  the  land. 
In  the  year  1859  the  Charlottesville  Church  called 
Mr.  Brown  to  be  its  pastor ;  coupled  with  the  call 
was  an  invitation  from  Prof  Hart,  to  fill  the  chair 
of  Moral  Philosophy  in  his  Institute.  Pie  accepted, 
and  entered  on  his  work  in  November,  of  that  year. 
The  following,  is  Prof  Hart's  estimate  of  his 
pastor  and  co-laborer : 

"  In  undertaking  to  furnish  some  reminiscences 
of  A.  B.  Brown's  pastorate  at  Charlottesville,  I 
undertake,  rather  a  difficult  task.  My  relations 
with  him,  w^ere  very  cordial  and  intimate — and  to 
me,  perhaps,  as  much  as  to  any,  he  revealed  his 
inner  self.  But  the  interest  of  such  recollec- 
tions depends  very  greatl}^,  on  striking,  personal 
incidents.  Such  incidents  either  were  few,  or 
in  collision  with  subsequent  agitations,  they  have 
been  worn  from  remembrance.  Hence,  some  are 
entirely  lost — others  so  indistinctly  remembered, 
that  to  attempt  reproduction,  was  a  peril  to  truth. 

"  Dr.  Brow^n  assumed  the  pastoral  office  in 
Charlottesville  in  November,  1859.  In  thatofiice 
he  succeeded  Dr.  John  A.  Broadus,  wdio  had  taken 
a  chair,  in  the  newly  established  Seminary  at 
Greenville.  To  succeed  Broadus  was  no  licfht 
thing,  and  Brown  fully  appreciated  the  difficulty. 


110  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Really  he  exaggerated  it.  He  feared  that  the 
mai'l-ced  difference  between  his  modes  of  thought, 
and  liis  modes  of  presenting  thought,  and  those  of 
his  predecessor,  would  make  him  hiil  to  engage  the 
interest  of  the  congregation.  He  did  not  suffi- 
ciently consider  that  that  very  difference,  was  a 
factor  in  his  favor.  And  so  he  began  his  work 
with  some  trepidation.  For  a  time,  he  was  not 
enough  at  his  ease  to  do  himself  justice. 

"  But  when  the  feeling  of  constraint  wore  away 
— when  he  knew  that  he  had  the  ear  and  the 
sympathy  of  the  thinking  part  of  his  audience, 
the  abounding  riclies  of  his  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual nature  poured  themselves  forth  in  a  series  of 
sermons,  many  of  which  yet  live  in  my  memory 
as  unmatched.  Hardly  a  year  has  passed  since, 
without  witness  to  my  debt  to  him.  When  I 
have  tried  to  set  forth  with  some  completeness  of 
discussion,  an  important  doctrine  of  Christianity, 
I  have  been  surprised  to  see,  with  w^hat  distinct- 
ness the  struggle  of  thought  brings  up  what  I  at 
once  recognize  as  a  residuum  of  the  teaching  of 
A.  B.  Brown.  And  when  the  struggle  has  so 
issued,  I  have  felt  that  I  was  nearing  the  inner 
truth  of  the  matter — that  I  had  fallen  into  the 
path  of  one  wdiose  thinking  went  to  the  marrow 
of  things. 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  Ill 

"  At  that  time  I  was  at  the  head  of  the  Albe- 
marle Female  Institute.  In  this  school  for  years 
I  had  the  aid  of  first-rate  men,  of  wdiom  all  that 
now  live  have  won  distinction  in  their  chosen 
pursuits.  Bronaugli  and  Thompson,  fell  in  battle ; 
Louthan  died  of  consumption;  Toy,  Harris,  Holla- 
day,  Johnson,  Hiden  and  Semple  still  live,  and 
the  world  know^s  them.  It  does  not  become  me 
to  say  what,  but  for  the  ruin  wrought  by  w^ar, 
might  have  been  the  place  of  that  school  in  the 
work  of  the  real  education  of  w^omen,  nor  to  point 
out  in  the  ideas  and  methods  now  dominant  in 
many  of  our  best  schools  the  evident  traces  of  its 
brief  career.  I  may,  I  hope,  without  suspicion  of 
vanity,  record  a  fact.  For  the  second  session, 
with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Toy,  I  organized  a  well 
digested  course  of  study  in  the  English  language, 
in  which  should  be  applied  to  our  own  tongue,  the 
latest  and  best  methods  and  results  of  linguistic 
science.  When  I  say  that  C.  H.  Toy  managed 
the  course  of  study  for  that  session  the  well 
informed  reader,  can  give  a  guess  as  to  the  quality 
of  the  work.  The  '  School  of  English,'  thus 
organized  was,  so  flir  as  I  know,  the  beginning  in 
this  direction.  Now  such  a  'school'  is  found  in 
almost  every  college  in  the  country.  And  if 
many  of  them — as  there  is  reason  to  fear — are  but 


112  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

sorry  schools  of  Saxon,  rather  than  good  schools 
of  English,  the  fault  is  not  Avith  the  pioneers  of 
the  movement,  but  with  teachers  who  do  not 
understand  their  business. 

"  Dr.  Brown  taught  the  Moral  Philosophy  course 
in  the  Institute  dunng  the  session  of  1860-61. 
Every  capable  man  who  knew  him  recognized  his 
remarkable  fitness  for  just  this  work.  Metaphysics 
was  his  mind's  native  element.  Women  are  usually 
thought  to  be  disinclined  to  the  severe  logical  pro- 
cess, pertinent  to  this  subject.  But  Dr.  Brown's 
class  caught  his  own  enthusiasm.  M}^  own  engage- 
ments hardl}^  ever  allowed  me  to  be  present  at  the 
recitations,  but  I  remember  very  clearly  how  often 
the  teachings  in  that  class,  became  the  subject  of 
eager  and  intelligent  discussion  among  its  members, 
during  their  intervals  of  leisure.  I  have  said  that 
Brown's  mind  was  metaphysical.  He  delighted  in 
speculative  thought.  In  this,  he  stands  in  marked 
contrast  with  another  of  noble  powers  and  of 
noble  life — one  who  was  long  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  Baptists  of  Virginia.  Dr.  Jeter 
Avas  singularly  free  from  all  tendency  to  specula- 
tive thought ;  and  while  it  would  be  unsafe  to  say 
that  such  an  intellect  as  his,  lacked  that  power, 
the  power  was  held  in  perpetual  abeyance. 

"  Not  many  months  after  Dr.  BroAvn's  coming  to 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  1 1 3 

Charlottesville,  were  the  beginnings  of  the  agita- 
tion that  culminated  in  secession  and  Avar.  To 
the  exciting  questions  of  that  time,  he  carried  his 
characteristic  thinking.  He  was  not  an  '  original 
secessionist.'  The  impassioned  and  scholarly  ora- 
tory of  Ilolcombe,  while  it  yielded  him  intense 
artistic  delight,  did  not  convince  his  judgment ; 
not  until  the  actual  secession  of  the  State  did  he 
let  go  his  allegiance  to  Federal  authority.  And 
then  to  do  so  cost  him  a  struggle.  His  early 
political  view^s,  combined  wdth  deep  reverence  for 
the  teachings  of  inspiration  concerning  obedience 
'  to  powers  that  be,'  made  him  question  if  it  were 
not  sin  to  throw  off  authority,  that  he  had  held 
as  paramount.  He  carefully  reviewed  the  wdiole 
question  of  the  relations  between  the  State  and 
the  Federal  Government,  and  reached  a  conclusion. 
The  result  was  a  sermon  from  the  w^ords  :  '  Render 
therefore  unto  Cfesar  the  things  which  be  Caesar's/ 
in  which,  with  a  keenness  of  logic  that  would  not 
have  discredited  a  Calhoun,  he  showed  that  the 
immediate  Cassar  of  the  people  of  Virginia,  is  the 
State  of  Virginia,  and  that  the  conscientious  Chris- 
tian may  follow  her  voice  even  if  it  does  not  con- 
cur with  the  voice  from  Washington.  And  this, 
so  far  as  I  remember,  was  the  only  sermon  from 
him,  even  in    those  distracting  times,  that  with 


114  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BllOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

color  of  reason  could  be  called  political.  In 
another,  soon  after  tlie  first  battles  were  fought,  he 
sketched  a  battle  field  during  the  progress  of  the 
fight,  and  after  the  carnage  was  over.  It  was  only 
a  rapid  sketch,  but  in  vividness  and  in  realistic 
power,  neither  voice  nor  pen  has  given  me  any- 
thing finer. 

"  I  have  said  that  Brown  soon  won  the  attention 
and  full  sympatliy  of  the  cultured  and  thinking 
people  who  heard  him.  But  a  very  large  number 
of  the  Church  and  congregation  never  so  far 
attainted  his  level  as  to  walk  with  him  on  it  with 
pleasure  and  profit.  Hence  his  pastorate  in  Char- 
lottesville was  not  what  would  be  called  in  modern 
parlance,  '  a  success.'  It  ended  by  his  resignation 
near  the  end  of  1861. 

"  Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  barrenness  of 
entertaining  personal  incidents,  at  least  in  my 
recollection.  Such  as  I  do  remember  were  mainly 
connected  with  what  was  sometimes  called  his  ner- 
vous irritability — a  peculiarity  which  no  man  la- 
mented more  than  himself  as  a  serious  obstacle  in 
the  path  to  usefulness.  I  do  not  believe  it  was  ner- 
vous irritability.  It  was  old-fashioned,  downright 
anger — anger  which  for  a  moment  swept  every- 
thing before  it — to  be  followed  soon  by  the  keenest 
regret.     The  locomotive,  were  it  a  being  of  Intel- 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  115 

lect  and  feeling,  would  doubtless  exult  as  it  speeds 
along  carrying  its  ponderous  and  precious  freight ; 
but  it  would  quiver  with  indignant  wrath,  if  some 
malapert  engineer  should  suddenly  pull  the  revers- 
ing bar.  So  with  Brown.  The  rude  current  of 
the  tide  of  thought,  driving  from  the  field  of  his 
mind  its  busy  occupants,  made  him  quiver  with 
an  indignation  that  at  once  spent  itself  on  the 
obvious  arresting  cause.  And  this  I  think  was 
substantially  his  own  view  of  the  matter,  for  he 
once  told  me  that  his  outbursts  w^ere  not  confined 
to  public  occasions.  Sometimes,  in  the  quiet  of 
his  study,  when  his  whole  being  was  intent  on  an 
absorbing  train  of  thought,  the  casual  entrance 
of  any  one,  with  an  innocent  question  about 
dinner,  wrought  the  same  stormy  reaction.  This 
w\as  a  weakness  in  Dr.  Brown,  but  a  weakness 
that  w^as  a  token  of  strength.  So,  sometimes,  a 
splendid  physical  nature  so  fights  against  disease 
that  its  ravages  are  hardly  discernible,  until  the 
disease  becomes  victor  and  the  man  falls  suddenly 
dead.  The  suddenness  and  completeness  of  the 
collapse  testify  the  strenuousness  of  resistance.  In 
his  later  years  Dr.  Brown  had,  I  think,  become  the 
master.  When  his  election  to  the  chair  of  Endish 
in  the  College  w^as  announced,  I  felt  but  one  appre- 
hension.    His  admirable  qualifications  in  all  re- 


116  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

spects  as  to  scholarship  and  teaching  power — and 
withal  his  sensible  views  as  to  what  teaching 
English  is — I  well  knew.  But  I  did  fear  that  a 
college  class  might  re-instate  his  old  tyrant.  That 
it  did  not  is  proof  that  he  had  become  master. 

"  In  the  various  notices  of  Dr.  Browni,  much  has 
been  said  about  the  qualities  of  his  mind.  Nobody, 
so  far  as  I  have  noticed,  has  emphasized  his  most 
striking  gift.  This  was  imagination.  I  do  not 
mean  the  decorative  fancy  that  makes  forays  into 
other  people's  gardens  to  gather  the  few  flowers 
that  may  serve  to  disguise  the  poverty  at  home. 
I  mean  imagination  in  its  highest  function — the 
personifying  function.  His  mind  was  a  battle- 
field. Ideas  were  living  things — warriors  in  pano- 
ply, that  charged  and  recoiled  and  charged  again, 
until  at  last  the  false  w^ere  driven  in  rout  from 
the  field.  No  one  who  has  heard  him  often,  no 
one  who  has  read  attentively  Avhat  he  wrote,  can 
fail,  I  think,  to  recognize  this  power.  Many  a 
time  he  has  reminded  me  of  Milton,  and  more 
nearly  than  any  other  whom  I  have  personally 
known  he  approached  Milton  in  imaginative  power. 

"  In  person,  A.  B.  Brown  was  not  handsome.  Tall, 
lean,  limber,  and  singularly  given  to  acute  angles 
in  gesticulation,  he  was  yet  a  remarkable  consis- 
tency.    The   ponderous,  rugged,  and  stimulating 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  117 

thoughts  he  was  wont  to  throw  out,  could  never 
have  suited  a  pulpit  Chesterfield.  Very  soon  his 
hearers  felt  the  subtle  harmony  that  bound  up  the 
man,  the  manner  of  the  man,  and  his  thoughts 
into  one  unique  whole — to  the  integrity  of  which 
one  part  then  seemed  as  essential  as  another.  But 
a  stranger  was  surely  pardonable,  wdiose  attention 
was  mainly  attracted  for  a  time,  to  the  sensible 
rather  than  the  intellectual. 

"  It  may  be  doubted,  whether  Dr.  Brow^n's  criti- 
cal powers,  w^ere  up  to  the  measure  of  his  general 
ability.  A  Butler  may  tell  of  plenty  of  wit  with 
excessive  shyness  in  using  it.  The  two  things 
are  not  usually  together.  But  if  Dr.  Brown  had 
the  critical  gift,  he  was  very  shy  in  using  it,  at 
least  in  the  censorious  way.  I  doubt  if  any  man 
ever  heard  him  make  a  harsh  comment  on  the 
sermon  of  a  brother  preacher.  Occasionally,  when 
some  one  else  occupied  his  pulpit,  he  w^as  ever  a 
patient  and  interested  listener,  and  ver}^  commonly 
almost  enthusiastic  in  commendation — and  this, 
sometimes,  when  I  was  obliged  to  confess  that  I 
had  been  bored.  Either  his  amiability  led  him  to 
repress  any  tendency  to  severity  of  stricture,  or 
his  idea  of  the  purpose  of  preaching  made  him 
think  well  of  any  sermon  that  put  before  the 
people,  the  real  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  however 


118  LIFE  OF  A.  n.  iniOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

defective  it  was  in  logical  and  literary  merit.  I 
know  that  his  deep  kindliness  of  feeling,  made  him 
a  most  lenient  judge  of  the  work  of  a  friend. 

"  A  very  noble  man  is  lost.  Within  a  certain 
narrow  circle,  the  loss  cannot  be  supplied..  But 
on  the  wdde  field  of  general  activity,  no  single  man 
is  an  absolute  necessity.  The  best  and  noblest 
fiill,  and  the  vacant  places  cannot,  we  think,  be 
filled.  But  others  are  called  forth  wdio  take  up 
the  fallen  mantles  and  carry  forward  well  and 
w^orthily,  the  interrupted  work.  In  that  narrow, 
inner  circle,  the  loss  is  irreparable.  There  the  sym- 
pathy of  surviving  friends  counts  for  much.  The 
true  consolation,  is  the  patient  and  thoughtful 
waiting  for  the  time  of  reunion. 

"John  Hart." 

The  following  extract  is  from  "A  Pupil's  Tri- 
bute," by  the  author,  that  appeared  in  the  Biblical 
Recorder,  of  Raleigh,  N.  C,  a  few  days  after  his 
death : 

"  In  the  years  of  '60  and  '61  I  sat  under  his 
teaching  in  the  class  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the 
Albemarle  Female  Institute,  Va.  At  that  time 
he  was  pastor  of  the  church  at  Charlottesville. 
Those  who  sat  under  his  ministry  there,  will  bear 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  119 

me  out  in  saying  that  his  sermons  were  marked 
by  extraordinary  power.  The  subjects  treated 
were  frequently  on  the  line  of  those  studied  in 
the  class.  Professors  of  the  University  and  the 
more  thoughtful  of  the  students  came  often  to 
hear  him.  There  was  much  in  the  appreciation 
and  responsiveness  of  his  audience  to  stimulate 
him. 

"  It  was  then  that  Prof  John  Hart,  the  dis- 
tinguished educator,  was  at  the  head  of  a  Faculty 
composed  of  that  bright  galaxy  of  Virginia  alumnaa 
of  the  University,  as  Prof  H.  H.  Harris,  C.  H. 
Toy,  Wm.  P.  Lou  than,  AValter  Holliday,  Wm. 
Bronaugh,  Thompson,  and  J.  C.  Hiden.  But  for 
the  desolations  of  war,  the  broad  reaching  plans 
of  its  Principal  would  have  made  long  ere  this 
the  Albemarle  Institute,  the  foremost  female  col- 
lege of  the  South.  I  doubt  whether  any  chair  was 
ever  more  ably  filled  in  this  country,  than  was 
the  one  filled  by  Dr.  Brown.  He  w\as  in  the  full 
vigor  of  his  manhood.  Philosophy  was  his  fa- 
vorite study.  His  restless  mind  roved  rampant 
over  the  fields  of  thought,  culling  flowers  at  every 
turn.  He  read,  he  compiled,  he  condensed,  that 
he  might  give  to  his  pupils  the  benefit  of  his  own 
research.  It  was  only  a  class  of  girls  he  taught, 
but  he  did  not  think  them  unworthy  of  his  best 


120  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

efforts.  One  of  that  number,  our  own  loved  Lottie 
Moon,  is  a  missionary  to  China,  and  others  have 
become  distinguished  teachers. 

"  When  he  appeared  before  the  class,  and  began 
to  lecture,  he  became  fired  with  his  subject  and 
unconsciously  communicated  the  magnetic  thrill 
to  his  students.  It  was  impossible  not  to  feel  the 
contagious  power  of  his  intellect.  The  subjects 
studied  might  be  metaphysical  and  difficult,  but 
his  mind  illumined  them  with  the  brilliancy  of  his 
own  setting,  till  they  glowed  and  sparkled  with 
ineffable  beauty.  He  so  loved  the  truth  and  'the 
search  after  the  truth,'  that  Avhcther  in  a  Jouffroy, 
a  Cousin,  or  a  Sir  William  Hamilton,  or  any  other, 
he  so  led  on  his  students  by  the  magic  power  of 
his  own  enthusiasm,  as  to  excite  a  hungering  and 
thirsting  after  knowledge  that  w^as  undying.  He 
knew  what  it  was  to  teach,  and  magnified  his 
office  by  the  love  of  it." 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  121 


A  PORTION  OF  A  SERMON  DELIVERED  IN 
CHARLOTTESVILLE. 


"  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  He  was 
rich,  for  your  sakes,  He  became  poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty  might 
be  made  rich." — 2  Corinth,  viii.  9. 

The  contemplation  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  is  calcu- 
lated to  cultivate  in  those  who  have  been  renewed  by  the 
Spirit,  two  eminent  Christian  graces,  gratitude  to  God,  and 
benevolence  to  men.  Thankfulness,  is  excited  by  a  considera- 
tion of  the  gift  to  ourselves,  and  benevolence,  by  reflection  on 
the  example  of  the  giver.  On  last  Sunday,  in  a  discourse 
on  the  text,  "  We  love  Him,  because  He  first  loved  us,"  we 
appealed  to  the  first  of  these  affections ;  but  you  will  see  from 
the  connection,  that  the  doctrine  of  our  j^resent  text  was 
presented  in  an  appeal  to  the  latter.  The  Apostle  John  makes 
a  similar  appeal  when  he  exclaims,  "  Hereby  perceive  we  the 
love  of  God,  because  He  laid  down  His  life  for  us,  and  we 
ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren." 

AVithout  laboring  on  this  occasion  to  point  the  moral  of  the 
text,  I  shall  endeavor  to  unfold  the  proposition,  from  which 
the  apostle  deduces  it  as  an  inference.  I  think  that  I  shall 
show  the  meaning  of  this  proposition  by  substituting  for  it 

H 


122  LIFE  OF  A.  n.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

these  three  propositions,  wliich  taken  together  are  equivalent 
to  it:  1st,  Jesus  was  in  one  period  of  His  life,  rich ;  2d,  Strange 
to  say,  at  a  subsequent  pcri(xl  He  became  poor;  3d,  The  object 
of  this  voluntary  assumption  of  poverty  was,  that  His  people 
might  be  rich.  These  propositions,  I  shall  discuss  in  the  order 
in  which  I  have  announced  them. 

The  first  proposition  considered  in  connection  with  the 
New  Testament  history,  clearly  involves  the  superhuman 
character  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  His  state  of  richness  must, 
according  to  the  history,  have  been  antecedent  to  His  assump- 
tion of  humanity.  In  no  period  of  Christ's  earthly  career  was 
He  rich.  If  the  Unitarian  alleges  that  the  Messiah's  riches, 
consisted  in  His  power  of  working  miracles,  which  power  He 
laid  on  the  cross,  we  deny  that  He  ever  thus  impoverished 
Himself  Had  He  not  the  power  of  miraculously  saving  His 
life  from  His  crucifiers  ?  Pie  declares  Himself,  "  No  man 
taketh  My  life  from  Me,  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I 
have  power  to  take  it  again."  He  could  have  summoned  twelve 
legions  of  angels  to  crush  His  murderers.  The  Redeemer 
did  not  on  the  cross,  about  the  close  of  His  career,  alter 
the  principles  which  had  before  regulated  His  working  of 
miracles.  Did  He  refuse  to  amuse  Herod,  by  the  exercise 
of  His  supernatural  power?  He  had  always  refused  to  degrade 
His  glorious  endowment,  by  doing  wonders  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  sightseers.  Whenever,  from  curiosity,  an  evil  genera- 
tion sought  after  a  sign.  He  determined  that  no  sign  should 
be  given  it.  Did  Jesus  refuse  to  do  anything  to  save 
Himself  from  the  cross?     It  is  a  most  iuterestinff,  and  most 


SERMON  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  123 

characteristic  feature  in  His  history,  that  He  never  wrought 
any  miracle  for  Himself.  He  fed  five  thousand  with  a  few 
loaves  and  fishes,  but  though  He  fasted  forty  days,  He  would 
not  at  the  suggestion  of  Satan,  save  Himself  from  pinching 
hunger,  by  commanding  a  stone  to  become  bread.  He  would 
enable  Peter  to  walk  to  Him  on  the  water,  but  He  would  not 
cast  Himself  down  from  a  pinnacle  of  the  Temple,  that  the 
angels  might  give  themselves  charge  concerning  Him.  I 
repeat,  that  Jesus  made  no  change  in  relation  to  miracles  on 
the  cross.  The  riches  of  Christ  here  alluded  to,  must  have 
been,  what  He  possessed  before  He  came  into  the  world.  He 
was  rich,  before  He  came  into  the  world.  He  was  above  the 
angels.  Yea,  He  created  the  highest  archangels,  for  without 
Him,  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made.  This  explains 
that  He  Himself,  was  not  created.  He  possessed  excellencies 
to  which  nothing  could  be  added,  for  in  His  superhuman 
character,  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever.  Now, 
this  involves  His  inferiority  to  men  and  angels,  if  He  is  less 
than  infinite,  for  both  men  and  angels  have,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  the  power  of  indefinite  progression,  and  would  ulti- 
mately surpass  Him.  But  nothing  more  is  necessary  for  our 
present  purpose,  than  the  fact,  that  He  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God,  and  that  He  was  God. 

If  then  God  is  rich,  Jesus  Christ  the  express  image  of  His 
Father's  person,  full  of  truth  and  ^'ace,  was  also  rich.  "We 
may  not  assume  to  take  an  inventory  of  the  riches  of  God. 
The  riches  of  God  are  infinite,  and  the  finite  cannot  fathom 
the  infinite.     All  conceivable  riches,  riches  of  power,  riches 


124  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BllOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

of  wisdom,  riches  of  holiness,  riches  of  glory,  riches  of  happi- 
ness are  His  forever,  and  in  unbounded  fulness. 

The  highest  efforts  of  our  power,  are  put  forth  on  matter 
and  mind,  which  we  can  neither  create  nor  destroy.     By  the 
Avord  of  His  power.  Ho  called  out  of  utter  nothing,  all  the 
forms  of  matter  and  all  the  gradations  of  intellectual  and 
sentient  existence.     AVe  act  by  availing  ourselves  of  the  laws 
of  nature,  by  making  ourselves  the  obedient  servants  of  His 
law.     He  made  all  the  laws  of  matter  and  of  mind.     AVe  are 
stewards  and  tenants  at  will,  of  our  so  called  possessions.     He 
is  the  absolute  owner.    Our  wealth  is  but  a  pros])ective  supply 
for  the  wants  of  the  body.     The  all  pervading  and  illimitable 
spirit,  intimately  present  in  all  things,  knows  no  want,  feels 
no  desire.     We  are  often  worn  down  by  the  cares,  and  per- 
plexed by  the  multiplicity  of  the  engagements  which  wealth 
imposes ;  and  kings  harassed  to  torture  by  exhausting  anxie- 
ties, cry  out  in  anguish  of  spirit,  'Uneasy  lies  the  head  that 
wears  the  crown."     But  the  real  and  ultimate  owner  of  all 
wealth,  the  monarch  of  an  infinite  empire,  in  whose  audience 
chamber,  innumerable  waiting  angels  receive  their  commis- 
sions and  render  their  reports,  now  manages  all  the  vast  and 
divine  plans,  all  the  minute  and  amazingly  complex  details  of 
His  boundless  system,  with  all  the  freshness  and  vigor  which 
characterized  His  administration,  when  first  the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sous  of  God  shouted  for  glory.     He 
is  rich   in   powers.     His  voice   created  matter;  His   breath 
created  spirit. 

The  ocean  that  swallows  in  its  greed,  the  fleets  of  merchant 


SERMON  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  125 

princes,  and  the  navies  of  kings,  dares  not  push  a  ripple 
beyond  His  appointed  bounds.  Revelling  winds  ravaging 
whole  provinces  in  their  mad  spirit,  crouch  like  chidden 
spaniels  at  His  feet.  And  mad  comets  in  all  their  seeming 
eccentricity  of  movement,  move  like  well  appointed  trains 
across  the  tracks  of  revolving  worlds  without  venturing  a 
collision. 

He  is  rich  in  wisdom.  Let  all  architects  admire  the  skill 
of  Hiram,  the  chief  under  whose  superintendence  the  materials 
of  Solomon's  temple — came  from  the  quarries  and  the  forests 
of  Lebanon,  so  squared  and  so  fitted,  that  on  that  beautiful 
building  no  hammer  might  sound.  But  let  a  Universe  admire 
the  skill,  of  the  great  architect,  so  working  in  darkness,  the 
quarry  of  nonentity,  brought  forth  every  atom  without  mark 
and  without  label,  and  fixed  it  instantly  in  the  symmetrical 
fabric  of  universal  nature.  No  whispered  treason,  can  escape 
Him ;  no  open  rebellion  can  surprise  Him ;  He  makes  the 
wrath  of  man  and  the  wrath  of  devils  to  praise  Him. 

Devils  rebelled.  He  had  foreseen  it,  and  had  determined 
to  make  it  the  occasion,  on  which  many  angels  should  feel, 
and  all  angels  should  see  the  majesty  of  justice.  He  had 
foreknown  it,  and  had  purposed  to  thwart  the  fiend,  by  show- 
ing Himself  on  this  occasion,  in  the  otherwise  impossible  atti- 
tude of  a  God,  whose  mercy  endureth  forever.  AYe  must 
cease  to  gaze  upon  the  effulgence  of  that  Being  who  dwells  in 
light  unapproachable,  and  to  whom  still  the  darkness  shineth 
as  the  light — whose  unfailing  memory  is  the  perfect  record 
from  which  shall  be  judged  the  secrets  of  all  hearts   in  a 


12(J  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  HROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

coming  day,  and  before  whose  all-seeing  eye  the  future  of 
every  being  looms  up  in  infinite  perspective. 

He  is  rich  in  glory.  Our  wealth  may  secure  us  a  little 
honor,  and  much  show  of  respect  where  thrift  may  follow 
fawning.  But  He  is  rich  in  the  freewill  homage  of  all  pure 
beings,  and  richer  still,  in  His  sufficiency  for  Himself.  He 
needs  not  the  worship  of  man,  nor  of  angels,  to  add  to  His 
gloiy.  What  must  have  been  the  conceptions  of  that  glory, 
which  Christ  had  with  Him  before  the  world  was? 

He  is  rich  in  holiness.  The  devout  astronomer,  like  Newton, 
whilst  gazing  on  the  sublimity  of  nature,  Avill  exclaim,  "Mar- 
vellous are  Thy  works  Lord  God  Almighty."  The  saint  contem- 
plating the  scheme  of  redemption  is  induced  to  exalt  the  riches 
of  the  grace  of  God.  But  the  unfiillen  beings  of  the  upper 
world  regard  the  holiness  of  God,  as  the  Kohinoor  diamond  in 
His  crown.  "  Cherubim  and  Seraphim  continually  sing  Holy, 
Holy  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth.  Heaven  and  earth,  are  full  of 
the  majesty  of  thy  glory."  God  is  infinitely  hup^iy.  When 
the  whole  creation,  passed  in  review  before  Him,  He  pronounced 
it  very  good.  There  was  happiness,  in  this  approbation,  of  His 
works.  He  has  made  all  nature,  beauty  to  the  eye  and  music 
to  the  ear.  Shall  He  that  formed  the  eye  not  see  this  beauty? 
Shall  he  that  made  the  ear,  not  hear  this  music  ?  or  is  He 
fated  to  be  the  only  intelligent  being  who  shall  see  and  hear 
without  delight.  Away  with  the  thought.  The  Centre  and 
Source  of  all  happiness  must  be  infinitely  happy.  If  it  is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,  what  must  be  the  happi- 
ness of  that  Being  whose  benefactions,  like  the  rays  of  the  sun, 


SERMON  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  127 

are  continually  going  forth,  never  to  return  but  in  tlie  clouds 
of  incense  which  they  raise. 

This  great  almoner  of  the  skies,  whom  giving  could  not 
impoverish,  was  ever  opening  His  hand,  and  supplying  the 
wants  of  every  living  thing,  was  ever  enjoying  the  true  luxury 
of  wealth,  the  luxury  of  doing  good.  When  we  consider  the 
riches  of  this  Great  Being,  well  may  we  say  to  Him,  in  the 
language  of  David,  "  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of 
him,  and  the  son  of  man  that  thou  didst  visit  him,  yet  for 
our  sakes  He  became  poor." 

II,  We  do  not  learn  from  the  Scriptures  that  Jesus  Christ 
abased  all  His  glories,  and  parted  with  all  His  riches  when 
He  was  manifested  in  the  flesh.  We  learn  in  fact  the  direct 
contrary.  Jesus  Christ  as  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity, 
exercised  in  the  universe ;  all  the  powers  of  Deity,  all  the  pro- 
cesses of  nature,  moved  on  during  His  incarnation,  as  they  had 
from  the  beginning,  yea,  even  on  this  battle-field. 

The  Captain  of  our  Salvation,  travailed  in  the  greatness  of 
His  strength.  The  winds  and  the  waves  He  spoke,  as  before, 
into  instant  stillness.  At  His  rebuke,  the  fig  tree  was  scathed 
as  by  the  lightning  of  heaven.  No  malady  baffled  the  skill 
of  the  all-healing  physician.  No  lunacy  resisted  the  charm 
of  Him,  that  loved  to  minister  to  the  mind  diseased.  All  con- 
quering death,  released  at  His  command,  putrefying  vic- 
tims, and  routed  devils  slunk  to  hell  from  His  presence. 
Jesus  was  in  some  sense  still  rich.  He  did  not  relinquish  or 
forfeit  that  holiness,  which  challenges  on  Galilean  plains,  the 
worship  of  a  whole  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host ;  and  most 


128  LIFE  OF  A.  H.  DROWxX,  DD.  LLD. 

certainly  He  did  not,  when  He  came  forth  to  seek  and  to  save 
the  lost,  relinquish  the  riches  of  His  grace.  He  did  ahate  the 
lustre  of  His  glory.  He  did  become  poor  in  His  condition 
and  in  His  humiliation. 

Whilst  Jesus  Christ  was  in  the  flesh — it  is  legitimate  to 
infer,  that  He  confined  the  range  of  His  seen  and  recogni/.ed 
action,  within  the  sphere  of  His  bodily  presence.  He  per- 
formed no  deed  on  earth,  of  Avhich  He  received  the  honor, 
save  where  His  body  was.  What  an  immeasurable  abatement 
of  His  glory.  The  light  lighted  every  man  that  came  into 
the  world,  but  amidst  the  clouds  of  ignorance  and  prejudice, 
the  world  saw  not  whence  came  the  light,  and  glorified  it  not. 
The  light  shone  in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehended 
it  not.  Whether  during  the  hour  of  the  Messiah's  humilia- 
tion, the  throne  of  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity  was 
shrouded  so  that  the  majesty  of  glory  shone  not  out  to  the 
heavenly  inhabitants,  we  may  not  know  now.  But  we  do 
know  that  His  glory  was  not  fully  appreciated,  by  His  own 
few  followers,  till  after  His  resurrection  from  the  dead.  The 
intimate  union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures  in  the  person 
of  Christ,  so  that  there  might  be  a  close  sympathy  between 
them,  and  so  that  our  great  High  Priest  might  be  touched 
with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  was  an  amazing  stoop  of 
condescension.  Think  of  the  degradation,  that  would  result 
to  your  spirit,  by  encasing  it  in  the  body  of  a  reptile.  Think 
of  the  humiliation  of  that,  s])irit  by  intimate  union  and  com- 
munion, with  whatever  of  spirit  the  reptile  might  possess. 
And  then  appreciate  if  you  can,  the  humiliation  which  the 


SERMON  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  129 

great  Creator  sustained,  when  He  was  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man.  But  in  the  Saviour's  infinite  descent  from  the  court  of 
heaven,  He  did  not  stop  at  the  upper  strata  of  human  society, 
He  did  not  content  Himself  with  stooping  to  the  poor  condi- 
tion of  man,  but  He  farther  descended  to  the  condition  of  a 
poor  man.  And  oh,  how  poor !  Many  a  queen  had  desired 
to  be  His  nursing  mother.  But  He  reclines  His  infant  head 
upon  the  bosom  of  a  Galilean  peasant  woman.  The  roar  of 
one  hundred  and  one  guns,  and  the  acclamations  of  all  Paris, 
hailed  the  birth  of  the  son  of  Napoleon.  Jesus  made  His 
unhonored  advent,  among  the  beasts  of  the  stall  (quotation 
here  from  the  infant's  hymn,  "  Soft  and  easy  is  the  cradle.") 
The  Avealthy  of  His  day,  made  their  costly  offerings  for  their 
first  born.  Mary,  more  grateful  than  any  other  mother,  could 
only  offer  a  couple  of  pigeons  or  turtle  doves.  AVhilst  He 
prosecuted  His  ministry.  He  lived  by  the  charity  of  His  fol- 
lowers, generally  themselves  poor.  He  had  not  a  2:»enny  on 
earth  with  which  to  pay  even  the  temple  taxes.  A  roving 
missionary  of  the  cross,  would  indeed  be  in  a  pitiable  condi- 
tion if  he  had  no  place  which  he  could  call  his  own,  and  in 
which  he  might  talk  undisturbed  with  his  anxious  inquirers ; 
but  when  one  of  Jesus'  hearers  attracted  by  the  sweetness 
and  purity  of  His  doctrine,  affirmed  that  he  would  follow  Him 
whithersoever  He  went,  the  Saviour  replied,  "  The  foxes  have 
their  holes,  the  birds  of  the  air  have  their  nests,  but  the  Son 
of  man  hath  not  where  to  rest  his  head."  When  on  the  cross 
His  heart  filled  with  the  great  concern  of  human  redemption, 
was  for  a  moment  saddened  by  the  condition  of  His  bereaved 


130  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

tmd  needy  mother,  He  could  fix  on  her  no  annuity,  no  pen- 
sion.    He  made  Plis  will,  but  in  it  He  could  only  lay  under 
contribution  the  affection  of  His  most  faithful  and  attached 
disciple,  establishing  a  new  and  sacred  union  between  them 
by  saying,  "John,  let  my  mother  be  your  mother!    Mother, 
let  my  friend  be  your  son."     Yea,  His  body  could  be  buried 
in  no  ancestral  vault,  it  rested  in  the  new  tomb  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea — honored  be  His  name !     Not  only  was  He  poor, 
but  treated  with  great  contempt  and  indignity,  throughout  all 
His  recorded  life.     He  was  contemptuously  expelled  from  the 
synagogues  as  unworthy  of  a  place  among  His  people ;  if  one 
who  had  been  healed  by  Him,  dared  to  plead  that  it  was 
strange,  that  if  Jesus  was  a  sinner  He  could  have  opened  the 
eyes  of  the  blind,  he  was  roughly  rebuked  for  his  presump- 
tion, and  summarily  excommunicated.     He  never  enjoyed  the 
advantages  of  extended  human  learning  for  His  human  spirit, 
and  those  who  attended  His  ministry  were  generally  among 
the  poor  and  the  despised.     Judge  my  hearers,  if  a  professed 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  could  heap  ridicule  on  the  head  of 
Dr.  Carey,  the  missionary  to  Hindoostan,  as  a   consecrated 
cobbler,  what  nmst  have  been  the  scorn  of  haughty  Rabbis 
and  Pharisees,  for  Him  who  taught  a  doctrine  not  learned 
in  the  schools  ?     Why,  it  was  of  such  that  Jesus  says  Himself, 
"  They  called  the  master  of  the  house  Beelzebub."    How  poor 
and  despised  the  man  who  can  have  no  peace  and  no  respect 
in  his  own  family.     Yet  Jesus  was  treated  as  a  madman  by 
His  own  brethren  according  to  the  flesh.     Respectable  men 
like  Nicodemus,  it  would  seem,  did  not  dare  to  visit  in  the  day- 


SERMON  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  131 

time,  but  visited  Him  as  men  would  now,  a  despised  fortune- 
teller, at  night.  If  on  one  occasion  His  followers  would  honor 
Hira  with  a  triumphal  procession  into  Jerusalem,  His  appear- 
ance was  so  humble,  the  procession  so  loAvly,  as  well  might 
excite  the  derision  of  the  proud.  So  ruined  seemed  the 
fortunes  of  Jesus  that  one  of  His  most  cherished  followers  felt 
so  much  ashamed  of  Hira,  that  he  swore  bitterly  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  Him ;  especially  during  His  last  hours.  How 
deep  was  His  humiliation.  He  was  publicly  scourged.  He 
was  crowned  with  a  hastily  made  mock-crown,  clothed  with 
the  mock  habiliments  of  royalty,  and  made  to  sway,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  bystanders,  a  reed  for  His  sceptre.  He 
was  taunted,  amidst  His  agonies  by  priests  wagging  their 
heads  and  saying,  "  He  saved  others,  Himself  He  cannot 
save."  He  was  reviled  by  thieves.  My  hearers,  the  hour  of 
death,  an  hour  of  deep  sympathy,  the  hour  of  public  execution 
is  an  hour  of  silent  pity  for  the  meanest.  I  hesitate  not  to  say 
that  if  a  murderer  in  our  land,  W'ere  treated  on  the  gallows 
with  a  tithe  of  the  insult  heaped  on  Jesus,  the  man  Avho  dared 
to  do  it,  would  be  torn  in  pieces  by  the  honest  indignation  of 
the  mob.  (An  effective  allusion  was  here  made  in  Charlottes- 
ville, to  the  kind  treatment  of  John  Brown  in  his  trial.)  Yet, 
men  of  like  passions  with  you  and  me,  so  treated  my  Lord 
and  your  Lord.  Well  might  angels  have  exclaimed  on  this 
sad  humiliation,  "  How  is  the  mighty  fallen." 

Jesus  in  His  humiliation  was  also  deeply  sorrowful.  The 
word  of  God  represents  Him  as  a  man  of  sorrows.  I  know 
the  sorrows  of  His  heart  have  never  been  written.    He  came 


132  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

to  M'ipe  away  the  tears  of  others,  not  to  ask  their  sym- 
pathy. The  daughters  of  Jerusalem  mourned,  but  Jesus  said, 
"  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  INIe."  He  breathed 
His  sorrows  at  night  into  the  ear  of  Heaven.  Once  we  over- 
hear Him  in  Gethsemane,  utter  a  whole  volume  of  sorrow  in 
the  exclamation,  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto 
death." 

in.  But  why  this  poverty?  He  became  poor  that  we  might 
be  rich  ;  rich  in  the  graces  which  He  never  laid  aside,  rich 
in  the  glories  which  He  did  lay  aside  for  us.  He  impover- 
ished Himself  to  pay  our  debts,  and  to  end  with  an  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Yea,  to  give  in  the  earnest  of 
the  Spirit  a  foretaste  of  heaven.  Well  may  the  saints  exclaim, 
W'hen  considering  His  inheritance,  "  How  vast  the  treasures 
we  possess :" 

"  How  vast  the  treasures  we  possess, 
How  rich  Tliy  bounty,  king  of  grace, 
This  world  is  ours,  and  worhls  to  come, 
Earth  is  our  lodge  and  heaven  our  home." 

[As  usual,  the  manuscript  of  this  sermon  is 
imperfect.  It  does  not  contain  the  discussion  of 
his  third  proposition.  Such  as  it  is,  I  venture  to 
give  it  as  a  sample  of  his  earlier  sermons.] 

The  personal  reminiscences  of  Dr.  J.  B.  Taylor, 
the  scholarly  pastor  of  Lexington,  Va.,  published 
below,  refer  to  his  life  in  Charlottesville,  and  will 
come  in  appropriately  here  : 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  133 

"Among  the  pleasant  memories  of  my  father's 
house,  are  those  of  the  visits  of  good  men  and 
women  who  were  entertained  there.  What  a  treat 
and  a  blessing  to  us  children,  was  the  coming  of 
these  saints.  Among  these  was  A.  B.  Brown,  and 
I  remember  his  kindly  interest  in  us  young  people. 
I  learned  to  know  him  well,  and  to  love  him  very 
tenderly,  during  my  last  year,  as  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Virginia.  It  was  his  first  year  as 
pastor  of  the  Charlottesville  Baptist  Church,  of 
which  I  was  a  member.  He  often  came  out  to 
the  University,  and  was  frequently  a  visitor  at  my 
room.  It  was  my  privilege  to  be  much  in  his 
company,  at  his  own  pleasant  home.  What  a 
treat  it  was  to  hear  him  talk !  His  judgment  of 
books,  men  and  measures,  was  so  simple,  wise 
and  common-sense.  His  conversation,  as  also  his 
preaching,  was  always  suggestive  and  stimulating. 
You  could  not  listen  to  his  discourse  in  public  or 
private,  without  hearing  that  which  was  to  be 
remembered,  and  which  would  be  almost  uncon- 
sciously assimilated  as  a  part  of  your  own  mental 
furniture. 

"During  the  year  referred  to,  the  Charlottes- 
ville Church  called  for  my  ordination  along  with 
that  of  three  well  known  and  gifted  young  men 
who  were  expecting  to  go  to  the  foreign  field.     I 


134  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

was  not  read}'  to  enter  npon  the  work  of  the 
pastorate,  and  expected  to  go  the  next  session  to 
our  Theoh)gical  Seminary.  Bro.  Brown,  appre- 
ciating the  difficult}'  a  young  man  naturally  felt 
in  deciding  such  a  matter,  took  much  interest  in 
it,  and  an  own  brother  could  not  have  been  more 
lovingly  helpful,  as  he  suggested  peculiar  reasons 
why  the  ordination  should  take  place.  I  enclose 
an  account  of  it,  written  at  the  time  by  Dr.  Brown 
himself  and  published  in  a  Charlottesville  paper. 
For  various  reasons  it  may  be  of  interest : 

ORDINATION. 

"At  the  joint  call  of  the  Charlottesville  and  Mechanicsville 
Baptist  Churches,  Eklers  J.  B.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  A.  M.  Poin- 
dcxter,  Charles  Quarles,  T.  G.  Jones,  John  A.  Broadus,  D.D., 
James  Fife,  Wm.  P.  Parish  and  A.  B.  Brown,  assembled  in 
Charlottesville,  on  the  9th  of  June,  1860,  to  examine  with  a 
view  to  ordination,  brethren  C.  11.  Toy,  J.  L.  Johnson,  J.  B. 
Taylor,  Jr.,  of  the  former  church,  and  J.  W.  Jones,  of  the 
latter.  This  presbytery  organized  itself  by  calling  J.  B. 
Taylor,  Sr.,  to  the  chair,  and  appointing  A.  B.  Brown  Secre- 
tary, and,  after  inviting  to  its  aid  a  committee  from  the 
Mechanicsville  Church  and  all  the  ministering  and  private 
bretliri'ii  who  were  present,  proceeded  to  exniiiiiie  the  candi- 
dates with  respect  to  their  conversion,  call  to  the  ministry  and 
doctrinal  views.  The  rcf^ult  of  the  examination  being  highly 
satisfactorv,  it  was  resolved  that  the  t)rdination  of  all  the  can- 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  135 

didates  be  proceeded  Avith  on  the  morrow  (Sunday)  after  the 
sermon.  Elder  A.  B.  Cabaniss  had  been  requested  to  take 
part  in  the  public  services  of  the  ordination,  and  those  services 
"were  distributed  among  the  members  of  the  presbytery,  as 
will  hereafter  appear. 

"At  11  o'clock  on  the  Sunday  morning,  the  spacious  Baptist 
Church  was  densely  thronged  with  an  audience  embracing  an 
unusually  large  element  of  high  intelligence  and  culture, 
called  out  by  the  distinguished  reputation  of  the  preacher  and 
by  a  commendable  interest  in  the  youth,  the  blameless  lives, 
the  sound  and  thorough  scholarship,  and  especially  the  self- 
devotion  of  the  candidates  for  ordination,  three  of  whom  have 
offered  for  the  untried  mission  among  the  Japanese.  The  con- 
gregation listened  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter  with  unflagging 
interest  to  the  noble  discourse  of  Rev.  T.  G.  Jones,  on  the 
text,  '  Preach  the  Word.'  This  was  one  of  the  best  efforts  of 
its  admired  author,  whose  subtlety  and  logical  power  few  of  the 
ministers  of  Virginia  can  surpass,  whose  width  of  mental  range 
scarcely  one  can  equal,  and  whose  richness  of  imagination,  and 
splendor  and  beauty  of  diction  are  absolutely  unrivalled. 

"  It  is  still  more  gratifying  to  say  that  many  who  once  feared 
that  this  bold  thinker  would  project  himself  beyond  the 
limits  of  orthodoxy,  or  lift  himself  into  the  regions  of  coldly 
correct  speculation,  and  who  have  prayed,  as  Fuller  prayed 
for  Hall,  '  the  Lord  keep  that  young  man,'  are  witnessing  in 
his  productions  from  year  to  year  an  increase  of  spirituality 
and  pathos.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon.  Elder  J.  B.  Taylor 
prayed  most  devoutly  and  earnestly  for  the  young  brethren, 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  were  laid 


136  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

on  the  heads  of  the  candidates.  By  this  time  the  crowd  had 
received  considerable  accessions  from  the  other  worshiping 
assemblies  just  dismissed  in  the  town,  and  when  it  was 
announced  that  Dr.  Broadus  would  deliver  the  charge  to  the 
ordained,  the  standing  throng  around  the  doors  pressed  far 
down  the  aisles,  preserving,  however,  a  breathless  silence. 
The  address  was  replete  with  mature  wisdom,  and  pervaded 
by  a  tenderness  befitting  the  close  relations  between  the 
speaker  and  the  young  men.  In  a  word,  it  brought  out  as 
well  as  the  limits  of  time  and  theme  would  allow,  the  very 
high  and  full-orbed  talent,  the  broad  and  thorough  culture, 
the  deep-toned  piety,  and  the  genial  sympathies  of  him  to 
whom  this  part  of  the  service  happily  fell.  Some  difficult 
discussions  would  have  been  necessary  to  cull  forth  his  rare 
powers  of  clear  analysis,  luminous  statement,  and  forcible 
argumentation.  Any  occasion,  however,  exhibits  in  him  a 
completeness  of  view  that  excludes  all  half  truths,  an  inimi- 
table precision  and  fulness  of  expression  that  makes  his 
utterances  almost  unf/uinmijable,  and  a  style  which  combines 
the  Saxon  simplicity  of  Bunyan  with  the  elegance  of  Hall. 
After  the  charge,  our  ardent,  sagacious,  practical  and  devoted 
missionary  to  China,  Rev.  A.  B.  Cabaniss,  presented,  on  be- 
half of  the  presbytery,  a  Bible  to  each  of  the  new  ministers. 
Rev.  Dr.  Quarles  gave  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship. 
Some  of  us  then  expected  a  rare  treat  from  A.  M.  Poindexter, 
but  he  had  the  singular  good  sense  not  to  detain  the  audience, 
contenting  himself  with  affectionately  comnaending  the  dear 
young  brethren  to  tlie  prayers  and  sympathies  of  the  pious. 

A.  B.  Brown. 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  137 

"Occasionally  on  a  Sunday  night,  our  brother 
would  press  one  of  the  ministerial  students  into 
service,  myself  among  the  rest.  Notwithstanding 
his  great  ability,  it  was  not  a  trial  to  preach  in 
his  presence.  He  was  such  a  kind  appreciative 
listener,  that  his  presence  rather  helped  and  stimu- 
lated than  depressed  or  embarrassed. 

"After  leaving  the  University,  I  saw  little  of 
him  for  years.  I  went  to  the  Seminary  at  Green- 
ville— then  the  war  came  on.  During  all  this 
time  the  memory  of  his  purity,  unselfishness, 
gentleness  and  consecration  was  often  an  inspi- 
ration. 

"In  the  year  1871,  I  w^as  riding  in  a  carriage 
with  Dr.  Brown  and  the  late  Dr.  A.  M,  Poindex- 
ter.  We  were  talking  of  the  future  life,  and  I 
used  the  expression,  '  If  we  get  to  Heaven,'  etc. 
Dr.  P.  promptly  said  in  substance,  '  you  should  not 
speak  thus ;  we  are  the  children  of  God,  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  we  shall  reach  the  heavenly  home'.  I  remem- 
ber how  Dr.  Brown  seemed  impressed,  and  he  told 
me  not  long  since,  that  he  frequently  thought  of 
the  incident  and  that  it  had  been  a  great  blessing 
to  him.  He  was,  as  you  know,  a  great  friend  and 
admirer  of  Dr,  Poindexter,  at  whose  house  in  his 
young  manhood  he  spent  much  time.     He  was  the 


138  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

author  of  the  admimble  sketch  of  that  gifted  man 
which  appeared  in  Cathcart's  Encyclopedia.  One 
of  the  most  impressive  things  I  ever  read  from  his 
pen  was  a  tribute  to  Mrs.  P.,  in  which  occurs  the 
following  beautiful  passage,  in  which  there  is  an 
incidental  reference  to  his  own  early  life  : 

"  Farewell  to  thee,  my  sister !  Farewell,  perhajis  for  ever,  to 
Poplar  Avenue,  my  much  cherished  resort !  Thy  tall  trees 
are  decaying,  thy  halls  are  deserted,  most  of  thy  former 
tenants  are  mouldering  to  dust ;  and  the  living  are  tearing 
themselves  away  from  a  residence  amid  the  tombs.  Happy 
hours  have  I  spent  around  thy  hearthstone,  to  which  memory 
shall  flee  for  refuge,  in  the  dark  days  of  the  future.  Bright 
figures  have  I  seen  within  thy  walls ;  but  the  presence  which 
furnished  their  most  favorable  and  attractive  light  is  gone 
forever ! 

"  The  last  time  we  met  was  in  Richmond,  at  our 
General  Association.  I  can  never  forget  the  ten- 
der loving  Avords  which  he  spoke  to  me.  I  shall 
always  be  thankful  not  only  that  I  knew  him,  but 
that  he  was  my  friend  and  gave  me  a  warm  place 
in  his  heart.  A  nobler,  purer  or  more  gracious 
soul  I  never  knew. 

"  'Pure  was  his  life  ;  its  peaceful  close 

Hath  placed  him  with  the  souls  of  light. 
Among  the  noble  host  of  those 

Who  labored  in  the  cause  of  right.' 

"J.  B.  Taylor." 

Lexington,  Va.,  Jan.  i,  18S6. 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  139 

The  following  recollections  of  Dr.  Brown,  from 
the  genial  and  accomplished  Professor  Holmes, 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  wall  be  read  with 
interest : 

''  University  of  Virginia. 
''lUh  January,  1886. 

"  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  become  somewhat 
intimately  acquainted  w^ith  the  late  Dr.  Brown, 
when  he  was  settled  in  Charlottesville,  in  charge 
of  the  Baptist  Church.  I  w\as  strongly  attached 
to  him  by  his  earnestness,  simplicity,  and  intelli- 
gence. I  was  favored  by  him,  with  as  cordial  an 
intercourse,  as  our  constant  occupations,  difference 
of  duties,  and  diversity  of  habits  permitted.  I 
frequently  attended  the  services  at  his  church,  for 
the  instruction,  direction,  and  consolation  derived 
from  his  sermons.  These  were  always  full  of 
matter,  well-considered  and  suggestive ;  and  were 
both  a  guide  and  a  cardiac.  The  thoughts  were 
abundant,  strong,  ^nd  closely  concatenated.  There 
w^as  a  novelty,  as  well  as  a  straightforwardness, 
in  their  presentation,  w^hich  aroused  interest,  and 
secured  acceptance,  after  careful  examination. 
Unquestionably,  his  discourses  were  too  compact 
and  abstruse,  to  be  fully  apprehended  by  an 
inattentive  or  unsympathizing  audience.  Their 
delivery  w^as   awk^vard,  and   at  times  grotesque. 


140  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

This  impaired  their  effect  on  a  promiscuous  con- 
gregation. But  the  negligence  of  manner,  and 
the  disregard  of  form,  drew  attention  to  the  sub- 
stance of  what  was  said,  and  won  upon  the  re- 
gards of  those  who  discerned  the  value  of  the 
gem,  without  caring  for  the  setting. 

"  Dr.  Brown  was  eager  and  single-minded  in  all 
he  undertook.  There  w^as  a  child's  unconscious- 
ness and  self-oblivion  in  his  performance  of  the 
work  which  his  hands  found  to  do.  He  was  a 
diligent  and  truth-hunting  student.  What  he 
acquired  with  meditative  toil,  he  set  before  his 
hearers,  in  the  aspect  presented  to  himself,  as  the 
imperative  fulfilment  of  his  '  high  vocation.'  He 
had  naturally  a  mind  of  wide  compass  and  of 
tenacious  grasp.  It  w\as  a  task  for  any  intel- 
lectual capacity  to  master,  w^eigh  and  adapt  to  the 
furniture  of  the  mind,  the  grave  and  compressed 
conclusions  which  he  propounded  in  ordinary  con- 
versation. Even  a  slight  acquaintance  sufficed  to 
give  assurance  that  he  w^as  a  man,  mentally  and 
morally,  rounded  and  complete — lord  of  himself 
and  of  the  knowledge  which  he  had  won  from 
deep  mines. 

"  Others,  who  knew  him  well  in  the  seclusion  of 
private  life,  can  speak,  as  I  had  no  right  to  speak, 
of  the  beauty  and  purity  of  his  character,  of  his 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  141 

gentleness  and  amiability  concealed  beneath  the 
outward  covering,  and  of  the  candor  and  warmth 
of  his  whole  nature. 

"  It  is  a  refreshment  to  recall  the  memory  of 
Dr.  Brown,  after  the  long  interval  of  3^ears  :  and 
the  regret  for  his  loss,  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness is  a  lasting  grief. 

"The  remembrance  of  such  men  is  an  inheritance. 

"  Such  is  the  impression  stamped  upon  my  mem- 
ory by  Dr.  Brown.  The  lines  are  still  sharp  and 
undefaced,  after  a  quarter  of  a  centur}^ 

"Geo.  Fred'k  Holmes." 

There  are  some  people  who  entertain  entirely 
mistaken  views,  as  to  the  character  of  Dr.  Brown. 
They  see  him,  even  now,  only  through  the  lens 
of  exaggerated  statement.  While  gifted  and  cul- 
tured beyond  his  companions,  he  was  not  perfect. 
He  had  a  weakness  that,  for  a  time,  seemed  almost 
to  paralyze  his  best  efforts,  the  notoriety  of  which 
dimmed  his  ministerial  reputation.  Some  called 
it  nervousness.  Prof  Hart  has  termed  it  anger. 
Whatever  it  was,  no  one  deplored  its  presence 
more  than  he  did. 

The  writer  remembers  only  one  occasion,  in 
which  he  showed  irritation,  in  a  public  assembly. 

He  was  preaching  to  a  crowded  house  in  Char- 


142  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

lottesville,  and  was  discussing  a  metaphysical  sub- 
ject, that  required  the  most  subtle  elaboration. 
The  whole  power  of  his  being,  seemed  concentra- 
ted in  the  effort  of  eliminating  the  truth.  Just  at 
the  critical  moment,  two  young  men  got  up  from 
their  seats  in  the  gallery  near  the  pulpit,  and 
stalked  all  tlie  way  down  the  aisle.  When  they 
got  near  to  the  stairway,  he  stopped  in  his  ser- 
mon, his  self-command  forsook  him,  and,  pointing 
his  hnger  to  them,  as  his  face  blazed  with  fiery 
indignation,  said  :  "  Young  men,  if  I  were  a  lawyer 
at  the  bar,  I  would  resent  such  conduct."  The 
effect  on  the  audience,  as  on  himself,  was  painful. 
Good  people  wept,  and  strangers  stared  and  won- 
dered. His  sermon  had  vanished — his  strength, 
was  exhausted.  After  a  feeble  attempt  to  rally, 
he  dismissed  the  audience,  and  went  away  to  his 
home,  mortified  and  distressed. 

The  next  time  the  church  met  in  prayer-meet- 
ing, he  appeared  before  them  in  tears,  apologizing 
for  his  conduct,  and  begging  them  to  pray  that  he 
might  have  grace  to  overcome  his  great  tempta- 
tion. He  used  to  say,  in  speaking  of  the  habit 
some  church-goers  have  of  bowing  their  heads 
during  preaching,  that  after  having  spent  a  week 
of  preparation  for  his  sermon,  he  could  not  bear 
to  preach  to  the  tops  of  the  heads  of  the  people. 


HIS  WORK  IN  CHARLOTTESVILLE.  143 

At  this  period  of  his  life  he  did  some  of  his 
hardest  work  as  a  student.  Ignoring  his  obliga- 
tions to  build  up  his  physical  organism,  he  was 
constantly  employed  expanding  his  mental  forces. 
Coming  from  his  study,  his  mind  all  aglow  with 
burning  truth  that  he  had  to  deliver,  it  w^as  not  a 
difficult  matter  for  him  to  transfer  his  emotions 
from  the  subject  under  discussion,  to  the  offender 
wdio  dared  put  any  obstacle  in  his  way. 

Sometimes  his  wife  would  say  to  him,  just  before 
going  into  the  pulpit :  "  Now  don't,  please  don't, 
notice  any  disturbance,"  when  he  would  reply, 
"  You  need  not  tell  me  that,  you  know  that  I 
wouldn't,  if  I  could  help  it." 

And  yet  he  did  finally  slay  the  tyrant.  By  the 
force  of  his  will,  and  by  the  grace  of  God,  he 
became  in  his  latter  days,  one  of  the  most  self- 
possessed  of  spirits.  Those  who  knew  him  in 
middle  life,  could  hardly  believe  that  such  a 
change  could  have  taken  place.  In  the  class 
room,  filled  with  merry  rollicking  boys,  he  was 
the  genial,  humorous  magnetic  teacher,  and  not 
the  irritable,  nervous  old  man  that  some  predicted 
he  Avould  be. 

It  is  not  certainl}^  known  where  the  following 
admirable  address  was  delivered  : 


144  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


Christianity  is  a  system,  or  rather  a  complex  of  truths 
revealed  from  heaven  to  men — truths  Avhich  the  human  mind 
could  not  discover,  but  which  it  can  understand  and  embrace. 
Civilization,  considered  apart  from  Christianity,  is  the  sum  of 
all  the  truths  and  institutions  which  men  have  without  direct 
divine  aid,  developed  from  their  intuitions  and  experience. 
We  are  to  consider  to  day,  in  part  the  ideal,  but  chiefly  the 
historical  relations  of  these  to  each  other.  We  must  first 
slightly  modify  our  definition  of  Christianity.  It  is  indeed,  a 
revelation  to  man  and  not  a  production  of  man.  But  it  pro- 
ceeds upon  certain  convictions  about  God  and  duty,  which 
itself  declares  to  be  native  to  the  human  mind,  but  which 
it  unfolds  with  a  new  clearness,  and  sanctions  with  a  higher 
authority.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment,  that  if  the 
heathen  by  the  light  of  nature,  knew  enough  of  God  and  duty 
to  be  without  excuse,  the  advent  of  Christianity  has  quenched 
this  native  light,  or  rendered  it  obsolete  and  useless.  Chris- 
tianity and  civilization  therefore,  exercise  common  jurisdiction 
over  the  domains  of  natural  theology  and  of  ethics.  Here, 
and  here  alone,  can  there — if  they  understand  themselves  and 
each  other — be  any  direct  conflict  between  them.  Christianity 
resents  the  interference  of  civilization  in  the  sphere  of  pure 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION.  145 

revelation,  and  scrupulously  avoids  intrusion  into  the  pecu- 
liar department  of  her  sister.  Any  legitimate,  mutual 
influence  that  they  can  exert,  must  be  wholly  indirect.  And 
in  fact,  their  interaction  has  chiefly  been  of  this  character. 

The  first  to  be  noticed  of  the  indirect  influences  of  Chris- 
tianity upon  civilization,  was  exercised  in  the  preservation  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  Roman  literature.  The  most 
authoritative  records  of  Christian  facts  and  doctrines,  are  con- 
tained in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages.  These  records 
cannot  be  understood  apart  from  the  history  and  general 
literature  of  those  nations.  So  Christianity  has  been  com- 
pelled to  preserve  and  interpret  them,  in  order  to  understand 
herself.  That  modern  civiliza,tion  is  so  grounded  on  antiquity, 
is  so  conservative  in  its  character,  has  drawn  from  the  past 
so  much  of  the  rich  material  of  institutions,  and  so  many 
pregnant  suggestions  for  its  self-development,  is  due  more  to 
Christianity,  than  to  the  inherent  vitality  of  the  noblest  of 
the  ancient  literatures.  Let  those  who  love  to  recognize,  and 
even  to  exaggerate  our  obligations  to  Greece,  remember  that 
but  for  the  church,  Greece  would  have  been  living  Greece 
no  more. 

Nor  is  there  abatement  of  this  immense  debt  to  Christianity 
in  the  alleged  fact,  that  Christianity,  while  preserving  ancient 
literatures,  destroyed  ancient  institutions.  For  this  is  not  a 
fact;  Grecian  civilization  was  dying  before  the  advent 
of  Christianity.  Its  literature  was  suffocating  under  the 
throttling  grip  of  despotism.  Its  philosophy  which  once  knew, 
or  thought  it  knew,  could  now  only  argue,  and  doubt  and 


14(3  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLO. 

deny.  Its  religion  had  become  the  secret  scoff'  of  the  priest 
and  the  educated  classes,  and  reigned  more  in  the  tastes  than 
in  the  convictions  of  the  populace.  Christianity  attacked  and 
destroyed  only  the  religions  of  the  Greeics  and  Romans.  If 
this  religion  had  been  the  vital  element,  or  the  cement  of  the 
civilization,  of  course  its  removal  would  have  caused  the 
whole  structure  to  crumble.  But  such  it  was  not.  The  Greeks 
themselves  generally  believed  with  us,  that  their  religion  was 
not  a  revelation,  but  a  human  production.  And  more,  they 
did  not  consider  it  the  root  of  their  civilization,  but  a  graft 
infixed  by  priests,  at  the  instance  of  crafty  statesmen.  Surely 
the  destruction  of  a  thing  so  accidental  could  have  hardly 
resulted  in  the  death,  though  it  might  have  led  to  the  modifi- 
cation, of  a  system  of  which  it  formed  part.  We  think,  then, 
that  Christianity  is  fairly  to  be  credited  with  preservation  of 
ancient  literatures,  without  being  debted  with  the  ruin  of 
ancient  institutions. 

I  have  said  that  legitimate  influence  of  Chri.stianity  and 
civilization  upon  each,  outside  of  natural  theology  and 
ethics,  must  be  wholly  indirect.  You  will  admit  that  if 
there  is  to  be  any  mutual  influence,  this  is  true.  But 
you  will  ask,  must  they  have  relations?  Beyond  all  doubt, 
Christianity  and  civilization  come  together  for  consideration 
in  the  same  human  soul.  They  cannot  be  entertained  at  the 
same  time,  unless  they  appear  to  be  demonstrably  consistent, 
or  to  say  the  least,  not  obviously  inconsistent.  A  man  first 
stands  face  to  face  with  Christianity,  having  in  his  mind, 
memories   of  personal   experience,  scientific   views,  political 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION.  147 

theories  and  prejudices,  and  what  not.  These  things  are  in 
his  mind,  indeed  in  some  sense  are  his  mind.  Must  they  not 
fix  the  extent  and  mode  of  his  conception  of  Christianity? 
Must  he  not  renounce  some  of  the  views  which  are  clearly 
irreconcilable  with  it,  or  will  he  not  modify  his  views  of 
Christianity  ?  He  will  not  deliberately  renounce  them.  Objec- 
tive Christianity  he  knows  to  be  uncompromising.  He  will 
not  deliberately  sacrifice  anything  of  its  form,  or  spirit,  to  an 
enforced  harmony  of  doctrines  and  institutions,  which  he  has 
already  received.  But  he  Avill  be  very  happy  if,  with  so  many 
points  of  contact  between,  he  does  not  warp  Lis  Christianity — 
his  ideas  of  Christianity — to  an  accommodation  with  existing 
systems  and  institutions.  Notice  two  important  respects 
in  which  this  has  been  done.  Christianity  consists  of  facts 
and  doctrines.  But  its  facts  are  not  arranged  into  perfectly 
regular  history.  Its  doctrines  are  a  beautiful  miscellany  of 
principles.  Now,  we  may  denounce,  or  sneer  at  dogma  and 
systematical  theology  as  much  as  we  please ;  but  the  human 
mind  must,  and  will  reduce  the  truths  which  it  accepts,  to 
order  and  logical  dependence.  Now,  Christianity  has  no 
system  of  philosophy,  no  formal  logic.  How  shall  it  get  itself 
systematized  and  codified?  The  Greeks  are  at  hand,  oflTering 
their  philosophy,  and  especially  their  rigid  logic,  as  the  con- 
venient mould  into  which  might  be  run  the  new  Christianity. 
Men  were  pressing  into  the  Church  fresh  from  the  schools  of 
Antioch  and  Athens,  bringing  much  method  into  an  institu- 
tion wherein  there  was  little  or  none.  They  did  a  little 
excellent   work.      They   defined    some    Christian   doctrines. 


148  LIFK  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

uotably  that  of  the  Trinity,  \vith  an  sicuteness  and  precision, 
which  have  never  been  surpassed  in  connection  with  this,  or 
any  other  subject.  But  they  could  hardly  fail  at  times  to 
distort  or  mutilate  Christianity,  in  adjustment  to  their  Pro- 
crustean bed.  Christianity  had  no  system  of  internal  govern- 
ment ;  at  most  it  had  only  a  few  definitely  fixed  regulations 
for  the  management  of  local  bodies,  called  churches,  every- 
thing else  being  left  flexible  or  adjustable  to  circumstances. 
Unfortunately,  there  was  soon  substituted  for  the  Scriptural 
idea  of  an  invisible  Sjjiritual,  general  church,  ruled  by  Christ 
in  heaven,  the  idea  of  a  great  visible  organized  empire  with 
a  human  head.  Where  shall  be  found  the  model  of  this 
empire  ?  Christianity  itself  knows  nothing  of  statesmanship 
and  administration.  These  belong  to  the  domain  of  what  we 
have  called  civilization  in  one  of  its  departments.  Many 
Christians  who  were  recent  importations  from  the  sphere  of 
politics,  were  ready  to  point  models  for  its  organization.  Some 
hints  they  got  from  the  synagogues,  more  from  the  Sanhedrim. 
But  the  Roman  government  was  a  rich  treasury  of  suggestions, 
with  its  imperial  head,  and  its  descending  ranks  of  dependence 
and  responsibility.  Hence  the  idea  of  an  imperial  govern- 
ment for  the  Church.  But  a  head  is  lacking  to  make  the 
system  complete.  The  Christian  emperor  undertakes  himself 
to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  an  unspiritual,  temporal  monarchy 
debauches  and  then  dominates  this  new  external  Church. 
Hence  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  But  ambitious  church 
dignitaries  think  it  unseemly  to  have  a  temporal  head  for  a 
spiritual  body.     Hence  a  pope.     As  tliere  is  now  a  union  of 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION.  149 

Church   and   State,  and   two   heads,  one   must   be   actually- 
sovereign. 

For  a  while  the  pope  and  his  official  body  are  the 
dependents  and  supporters,  often  indeed  the  grumbling, 
reluctant  dependents  and  supporters  of  temporal  power. 
Then  sovereign  over  the  temporal  power  again,  relapsing  into 
dependence  on,  and  support  of  imperial  and  kingly  govern- 
ment. And  the  papacy,  the  result  of  the  influence  of  one 
department  of  the  old  civilization,  has  either  exercised  or  sup- 
ported absolute  government.  I  think  it  but  just  to  say  that 
the  old  undying  Christian  spirit,  silently  \Yorking  in  much  of 
the  membership  aud  even  the  priesthood  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  has  often  exerted  a  very  different  influence. 

I  have  spoken  so  far,  chiefly  of  the  influence  of  civilization 
on  Christianity.  I  must  hereafter  speak  of  Christianity  on 
civilization.  I  have  said  that  this  is  mainly  indirect — it  does 
not  immediately  touch  any  mundane  thing.  It  quickens, 
purifies,  ennobles  the  individual  soul.  It  feeds  the  mind  on 
high  thoughts  of  God  and  Christ.  It  substitutes  for  Plato's 
pleasing  thoughts  and  fond  desire,  the  confident  hope  of 
immortality.  It  exalts  the  imagination  with  views  of 
heaven,  or  rather,  it  excites  an  effort  to  construct  a  heaven 
which  never  can  be  fully  imagined.  Above  all,  it  pierces  the 
conscience  with  more  than  the  sharpness  of  a  two-edged 
sword ;  and  mightily  taxes  and  trains  the  intellect  in  a 
grapple  with  innumerable  questions  in  detail  of  right  and 
duty,  and  tones  up  the  will  to  control  without  mutilating  or 
destroying  the  body.     In  a  word,  it  elevates  the  man,  and 


150  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

must  elevate  society  in  elevating  individuals.  The  revelation 
from  heaven,  is  light  beaming  its  calorific  rays  to  beautify  the 
social  system,  light  shedding  its  warming  rays  to  vitalize  it, 
li"ht  beaming  its  chemical  and  mechanical  rays,  slowly  to 
change  the  whole  molecular  structure  of  society.  Here  is 
something  then  better  than  the  philosopher's  stone;  something 
that  changes  wood,  hay,  and  stubble  into  silver  and  gold,  and 
precious  gems.  It  afiects  forms  of  government  very  much, 
perhaps  even  more,  than  the  furnisher  of  building  material 
affects  architecture.  Christianity,  apart  from  doing  anything 
to  affect  forms  of  government  in  giving  society  better  men 
for  rulers,  for  subjects  and  for  citizens,  has  conferred  an  ines- 
timable blessing  on  mankind.  I  think  it  does  something  for 
modes  of  government,  but  in  a  very  quiet  and  indirect  way. 
It  suggests  and  authorizes  no  systems.  I  would  not  say  a 
word  in  favor  of  •democracy  here  to- day,  or  on  any  day.  I 
mit'ht  be  allowed  to  say  that  I  should  not  feel  hurt  at  being 
called  a  democrat ;  but  I  should  be  really  grieved  to  hear  my 
Master  called  a  democrat.  He  is  no  democrat.  He  is  no 
aristocrat,  and  though  king  of  kings,  He  is  no  monarchist. 
Yet,  Christianity  tends,  slowly  tends  to  develop  or  change 
governments  into  more  liberal  forms.  ISIany  great  thinkers 
have  said,  notably  Dr.  Wayland,  that  free  government  cannot 
be  maintained  among  men  of  a  low  intellectual  and  moral 
grade.  They  will  be,  they  must  be  governed  by  the  strong 
hand.  As  men  become  w-iser  and  better,  they  largely  control 
themselves.  The  bonds  of  government  will  insensibly  be 
relaxed;  and  administration  will  spontaneously  adjust  itself 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION.  151 

to  the  changed  conditions,  though  the  tough  manacles  of 
inveterate  despotism,  have  sometimes  to  be  dissolved  even  in 
Christian  nations,  amid  throes  and  convulsions.  The  Puri- 
tans of  England  in  contending  for  some  portions  of  the 
British  Constitution,  did  violently  subvert  other  portions. 
This  resulted,  I  am  confident,  from  that  union  of  Church  and 
State,  which  Protestantism  had  inherited  from  the  papacy, 
and  had  not  discarded.  Religion  and  political  rights  were 
attacked  together,  and  defended.  But  where  freedom  of 
belief  and  worship  is  conceded,  civil  rights  among  Christians 
will  generally  be  sought  by  constitutional  remedies,  with  little 
or  nothing  of  violent  revolution. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  laws  of  Christian  countries, 
apart  from  modes  of  administration,  we  find  them  not  so  much 
pervaded  by  the  Christian  spirit,  as  founded  on  Christianity 
itself  Ethics  belongs,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning,  theo- 
retically, to  the  domains  both  of  Christianity  and  general 
civilization.  Practically,  they  have  been  abandoned,  deferred 
to  the  patronage  of  Christianity.  And  the  gospel  as  it  is 
understood,  if  not  pure  ideal  gospel,  has  fashioned  the  moral 
ideas  of  Christendom,  and  the  laws  have  been  founded  on 
them. 

The  judicial  machinery  is  of  human  origin.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  jurymay  be  borrowed  from  ancient  Germany;  but 
the  substance  of  the  instruction  of  the  judge  is  drawn  from 
the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  law-givers. 

Christianity  originated,  and  has  generally  controlled  the 
higher  education  of  the  Christian  nations.     It  must  have  its 


ir)2  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

teachers,  its'clergy,  taught  in  the  Bible,  and  in  the  languages  in 
which  it  is  contained  and  in  the  literature  of  those  languages; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  systematizing,  defending  and  expound- 
ing its  doctrines,  it  must  have  its  ministers  educated  in  phil- 
osophy, logic,  rhetoric  and  general  literature.  It  could  not 
safely  leave  this  instruction  to  aliens  and  enemies.  It  must 
have  its  own  schools.  There  was  no  where,  but  in  Church  or 
in  State,  sufficient  organizing  power  to  get  up,  endow  and 
equip  great  schools.  So  the  Church,  and  afterwards  Church 
and  State  united,  but  even  then  chiefly  the  Church  element  in 
the  State  established  all  the  higher  schools;  and  drew  to  them 
instruction  in  law,  in  medicine,  in  the  liberal  arts  so-called, 
and  in  a  word,  all  higher  education.  In  very  modern  times, 
disintegration  has  set  in  law  and  medicine,  set  up  for 
themselves.  The  State  parting  company  with  the  Church 
established  high-schools,  and  we  are  coming  to  have  all  sorts 
of  special  schools  ;  many  of  them,  unfortunately,  without  any- 
thing of  general  culturing  discipline.  We  have  polytechnic 
schools,  agricultural,  art  schools,  book-keeping  schools,  and 
what  not.  But  Christianity,  in  the  Christian  denominations, 
still  has  the  chief  control  of  the  higher  educatii-n  ;  it  is  the 
breakwater  against  innovation,  the  champion  of  instruction 
in  the  ancient  languages,  the  keystone  of  its  whole  educa- 
tional system.  If  the  unwise  demand  for  the 'so-called  practi- 
cal, the  immediately  useful,  prevail,  the  keystone  will  be 
knocked  out.  The  system  will  fall  to  pieces;  and  every  youth 
will  go  with  his  untrained  mind  to  an  apprenticeship  in  his 
chosen  trade  or  profession.     But  to  return.    Christianity  once 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  CIVILIZATION.  163 

did  everything ;  still  does  almost  everything  for  the  higher 
education.  What  a  mighty  influence  she  has  exerted  in  this 
way  on  civilization,  goes  without  saying. 

Let  us  notice  some  things  that  it  has  done.  It  must 
teach  a  high  ethics,  theoretical  and  practical.  It  must  give 
prominence  to  psychology,  the  study  of  the  human  soul;  for 
with  the  Christian  the  maxim,  "  know  thyself"  is  much  more 
than  a  beautiful  aphorism.  Then  the  higher  philosophy,  the 
philosophy  of  the  infinite  and  the  absolute,  of  cause  and 
effects,  touches  the  very  vitals  of  Christianity,  the  existence  of 
God.  With  natural  philosophy  Christianity  would  seem  to 
have  little  to  do.  Yet  it  must  intervene  there  to  keep  in 
check  the  spirit  of  materialism,  which  seems  so  native  to  that 
department  of  knowledge.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  practical 
and  benevolent  interest  which  modern  experimental  philosophy 
takes,  in  the  humble  abilities  of  life,  is  altogether  Christian. 
There  was  no  chemistry  in  Plato's  day,  and  almost  no 
mechanical  philosophy;  and  none  was  desired.  Proud  ancient 
philosophy  looked  with  sovereign  contempt  on  the  work  of 
sailors,  tanners,  dyers  and  builders,  and  scavengers  and 
washers,  and  cooks.  But  Christian  philosophy  is  not  proud ; 
she  walks  with  her  beautiful  robes  unsoiled  through  filthy 
alleys,  and  amid  pots  and  ovens,  tubs  and  suds;  cheering, 
lessening,  sweetening,  guiding,  dignifying  labor. 

Christianity  has  developed  into  a  science  "The  laws  of 
nations;"  the  name  and  some  germs  of  the  thing,  existed  among 
the  ancients.  The  Romans  talked  much  and  practiced  little 
of  "  Jus  Genthun."     Virgil  expresses  Rome's  practical  con- 


154  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ception  whcu  he  apostrophizes  his  people  in  the  exclamation : 
"  Do  thou,  Roman  rule  the  world !"  Christianity  conceives 
the  sisterhood  of  the  nations ;  develops  the  equity,  humanity  and 
courtesy,  which  should  govern  their  intercourse.  And  though 
she  has  not  turned  the  fury  of  battle  she  has  done  much 
"to  smooth  the  wrinkled  brow  of  grim-visaged  war."  Then, 
what  blessed  institutions  of  benevolence  she  has  introduced ; 
institutions  wholly  unknown  outside  of  Christendom.  In  the 
asylums  which  she  has  organized  or  suggested,  ^e  has  kindly 
nursed  the  victim,  and  sternly  exorcised  the  demon  of  mad- 
ness. She  has  made  the  lame  to  Avalk  and  leap,  and  praise 
God.  She  has  been  eyes  to  the  blind  and  ears  to  the  deaf; 
and  she  is  beginning  to  teach  the  dumb  literally  to  speak. 
She  has  hovered  in  the  rear  of  battle  with  an  escort  of  minis- 
tering angels,  in  the  form  of  blessed  Christian  women,  to  nurse 
its  wounded  and  soothe  its  dying. 

Ah,  here  I  am  reminded  of  an  almost  unpardonable  omis- 
sion in  the  body  of  this  address.  But  how  could  I  have  done 
justice  to  what  Christianity  has  done  by  "woman  and  for 
woman."  I  should  have  utterly  failed  to  represent  the  sweet 
and  heavenly  influence  of  the  Christian  mother,  or  sister  or 
wife.  And  the  most  graceful  thing  which  I  could  have  done, 
would  have  been  to  imitate  the  artist,  who  despaired  of  his 
ability  to  paint  the  features  of  his  ideal  woman,  and  simply 
drew  a  veil  over  her  face. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  155 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    DAYS    OF    WAR. 

TN  a  former  chapter,  Prof,  Hart  tells  us  that  Dr. 
Brown  was  not  an  original  secessionist.  He 
was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  extreme  Southern 
men  in  their  attempt  to  disrupt  the  Federal  Union. 
He  was,  however,  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of 
States  rights,  and  felt  that  his  allegiance  to  Vir- 
ginia was  supreme.  When,  therefore,  Virginia, 
passed  the  ordinance  of  secession.  Dr.  Brown 
linked  his  political  fortunes  with  her.  It  w^as  not 
possible  for  one  of  his  ardent  temperament  and 
burning  enthusiasm,  to  remain  an  indifferent 
spectator,  in  the  midst  of  the  stirring  scenes  of 
war.  His  soul  caught  the  warlike  spirit  of  the 
times,  and  he  watched  the  deepening  conflict  wdth 
inexpressible  solicitude.  He  had  neither  health 
nor  taste,  for  the  rough  life  of  the  soldier,  and 
during  the  early  months  of  the  war,  he  stood  at 
his  post  in  HoUins  Institute.  As,  however,  the 
war  w^ent  on,  and  the  religious  necessities  of  the 
soldiers  became  more  apparent,  he  felt  that  he 
could  no  longer  stand  aloof — his  place  was  in  the 


156  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

camp, — not  to  handle  the  carnal  weapons  of  an 
earthly  warfare,  but  to  carry  the  bread  of  life  to 
the  Southern  soldiery.  So  strongly  did  this  con- 
viction possess  him,  that  he  resigned  his  Professor- 
ship, sent  his  family  to  their  home  in  Pittsylvania 
county,  and  entered  the  camp  as  a  missionary  of 
the  cross.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  reader  that  Dr.  J. 
Wm.  Jones,  an  old  army  chaplain,  who  was  asso- 
ciated with  Dr.  Brown  at  this  point  in  his  history, 
has  furnished  for  this  volume  an  interesting  sketch 
of  his  work  among  the  soldiers.  His  gifted  pen 
presents  a  vivid  portraiture  of  the  Christian  min- 
ister in  camp. 

"  Rarely,  if  ever,  since  apostolic  times,  has  the 
world  witnessed  more  precious  revivals  than  those 
with  wdiich  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  was 
blessed.  At  the  very  first  there  was  in  the  ranks 
of  that  army,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  effi- 
cient male  members  of  all  of  the  evangelical 
churches  of  the  South,  and  the  religious  interest 
grew  until  in  the  autumn  and  winter  of  62-63 
there  begun  a  revival  which  grew  in  interest, 
which  the  bloody  campaign  of  Chancellorsville 
and  Gettysburg  did  not  check,  but  which  in  Au- 
gust,'63,  culminated  in  the  "great  awakening," 
which  made  every  camp  vocal  with  the  praises  of 


THE  DAYS  OF  WAR.  157 

God,  and  went  graciously  on  until  over  fifteen 
thousand  soldiers  in  Lee's  army  had  professed 
faith  in  Jesus. 

"No  organization  was  more  efficient  in  laboring 
in  the  camps  and  hospitals  of  the  army,  than  the 
Virginia  Baptist  '  Sunday  School  and  Publication 
Board,'  of  which  Rev.  A.  E.  Dickinson  Avas  then 
the  able  and  efficient  Superintendent.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Association,  in  June, 
1861,  the  Board  was  instructed  to  continue  the 
policy  already  inaugurated,  and  to  confine  their 
labors  chiefly  to  a  vigorous  pushing  of  army  col- 
jiortage. 

"At  the  meeting  in  1862,  the  Superintendent 
reported  that  the  Board  had  collected  $24,000, 
published  40  tracts,  distributed  0,187,000  pages  of 
tracts,  13,845  copies  of  'Camp  Hj^mns,  (published 
by  the  Board,)  besides  a  large  number  of  Bibles, 
Testaments,  and  religious  books ;  the  next  year 
they  reported  $60,027.34  collected,  80  colporteurs 
and  evangelists  among  the  soldiers,  24,000,000 
pages  of  tracts  published  and  circulated,  25,000 
Bibles  and  Testaments  distributed,  and  many 
thousand  copies  of  religious  papers  sent  weekly 
to  the  camps  and  hospitals;  and  for  the  next  two 
years  the  Board  reported  an  even  larger  work 
performed.     Among  the  most  efficient  laborers  of 


158  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

this  Board,  was  our  honored  and  gifted  brother, 
Dr.  A.  B.  Brown. 

"  When  the  war  broke  out,  he  was  pastor  in 
Charlottesville,  and  took  the  most  active  interest 
in  the  religious  welfare  of  the  numbers  of  sick 
and  wounded  soldiers  congregated  in  the  large 
hospitals  located  there.  I  have  no  means  of 
knowing  the  extent  and  results  of  these  labors, 
but  I  distinctly  remember  that  I  not  unfrequently 
heard  soldiers  on  their  return  from  these  hospitals, 
speak  enthusiastically  of  Dr.  Brown  and  his  w^ork. 

"  On  the  march  from  the  Valley  to  First  Fred- 
ericksburg, in  the  latter  part  of  November  or  first 
of  December,  1862,  I  ^vas  riding  one  day  w^ith 
that  accomplished  scholar,  brilliant  artillerist,  and 
high-toned  Christian  gentleman,  Col.  Lewis  Minor 
Coleman  (then  Professor  at  the  Universitj-  of  Vir- 
ginia,) who  was  so  soon  to  yield  up  his  noble  life 
for  the  land  and  cause  he  loved  so  well,  and  we 
got  to  talking  about  the  religious  welfare  of  the 
arm}'  and  the  necessity  of  having  our  best  men 
to  preach  in  the  camps.  Col.  Coleman,  in  a  strain 
of  eloquent  talk,  which  he  only  could  command, 
was  very  emphatic  in  expressing  the  opinion  that 
our  ablest  pastors  ought  to  spend  at  least  a  few 
months  each  in  army  work,  and  in  that  connection 
spoke  of  his  pastor.  Dr.  Brown,  in  the  strongest 


THE  DAYS  OF  WAR.  159 

terms  of  affectionate  admiration,  and  said  that  he 
sliould  write  and  beg  him  to  come.  It  was  in  this 
connection  that  he  said  :  '  Dr.  Brown  has  my  exact 
range;  he  hits  me  everj^  time.'  [I  remember  that 
when  I  once  repeated  this  to  Dr.  Brown,  he  seemed 
touched  by  the  compliment  of  his  distinguished  and 
Lamented  friend,  but  added  with  his  usual  modesty, 
^  Ah !  but  I  fear  that  when  I  had  Lewis  Minor 
Coleman  s  '  range '  that  I  was  shooting  ove?-,  the 
heads  of  everybody  else.'] 

"  I  do  not  know  wdiether  Col.  Coleman  was  able 
to  fulfill  his  purpose,  (for  two  weeks  later  he  fell 
at  Fredericksburg,  and  lingered  for  several  weeks 
to  show  how  a  Christian  soldier  could  die,)  but  I 
do  know  that  Dr.  Brown  w^as  anxious  to  come  to 
the  army  to  preach,  and  that  in  the  autumn  of 
1863  or  winter  of  1863-64  he  accepted  an  appoint- 
ment from  the  Colportage  Board,  and  was  attached 
to  Carter's  Artillery  Battallion  (of  which  Col.  Thos. 
H.  Carter  was  Colonel,  and  Lieut.  Colonel  Carter 
Braxton  was  second  in  command,)  as  Missionary 
Chaplain.  I  very  much  regret  that  I  cannot  now 
find  certain  material  which  would  give  me  some 
details  of  Dr.  Brown's  army  work.  But  I  have  a 
very  distinct  impression  of  the  earnest  zeal  with 
which  he  threw  himself  into  the  work,  the  ability 
and  power  with  which  he  preached,  and  the  gentle 


160  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

self-sacrificing  spirit  with  which  he  labored  among 
the  sick  and  wounded.  I  had  the  privilege  of 
hearing  him  preach  a  few  times,  and  I  remember 
being  surprised  and  delighted  to  find  that  he 
added  to  the  great  ability  which  always  charac- 
terized his  sermons  a  tender  pathos,  an  unction, 
and  a  iiopuJar  power  which  seemed  to  move  and 
thrill  all  who  heard  him.  He  '  had  the  range '  of 
the  most  intelligent  and  scholarly  men  who  heard 
him,  (and  there  were  many  of  them  in  Lee's  army, 
especially  in  the  Artiller}^,)  but  he  also  '  hit  every 
time '  the  humblest  and  most  illiterate  of  his 
auditors.  With  a  stump  for  his  pulpit,  the  blue 
canopy  of  heaven  for  his  *  sounding  board,'  and  for 
his  auditors  bronzed  veterans  of  an  hundred  fights, 
ready  soon,  perhaps,  to  fight  their  last  battle,  his 
very  soul  seemed  stirred  within  him,  and  if  elo- 
quence is  '  logic  set  on  fire,'  then  he  was  eloquent 
above  almost  any  man  I  ever  heard. 

"  I  remember  hearing  him  on  the  text, '  Ye  know 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  though 
He  was  rich  yet  for  your  sakes  became  poor  that 
ye  through  His  poverty  might  be  rich,'  and  I  have 
often  wished  that  I  had  been  able  to  make  a  ver- 
batim report  of  his  portrayal  to  those  ragged,  bare- 
footed 'boj^s  in  gray,'  of  the  riches  and  the  poverty  of 
JesnSj  arid  the  residt  to  us.     Such  a  report  would,  I 


THE  DAYS  OF  WAR.  161 

am  sure,  have  taken  rank  among  the  great  ser- 
mons of  the  ages. 

"I  recall  with  mournful  pleasure  now,  a  week 
or  ten  days  I  spent  with  him  near  Frederick's  Hall 
Depot,  Louisa  County,  in  the  latter  part  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1864.  We  were  preaching  several  times 
every  day  in  the  Artillery  of  Ewell's  corps,  which 
was  in  winter  quarters  near  by,  and  were  being 
entertained  with  old  Virginia  Christian  hospitality 
by  those  noble  Baptist  women,  the  Misses  Garland, 
and  rarely  did  I  ever  enjoy  a  greater  intellectual 
and  spiritual  treat  than  in  my  intercourse  with 
this  intellectual  giant,  this  humble,  devout  Chris- 
tian. He  was  certainly  one  of  the  'fullest'  men  I 
ever  met,  and  I  said  of  him  one  da}^,  after  we  had 
been  discoursing  certain  military  plans,  '  he  ought 
to  have  been  a  general.'  It  was  during  this  vist 
that  the  celebrated  Dahlgren  raid  occurred,  and 
Dahlgren  dashed  up  within  several  hundred  yards 
of  the  artillery,  which  he  might  have  captured 
had  he  not  been  frightened  off  by  the  false  report 
that  there  w^as  a  heavy  infantry  support  there  I 
remember  some  very  ludicrous  experiences  which 
Dr.  Brown  and  myself  had  in  tramping  around  in 
the  rain  and  mud,  acting  as  guides,  carrying  our 
muskets,  etc.,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  alacrity 
Avith  which  he  availed  himself  of  every  opportu- 


162  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

nity  to  speak  a  word  for  Christ  to  individual 
soldiers,  and  to  preach  to  the  gathered  congrega- 
tion of  brave  Ibllows. 

"  He  spoke  to  me  enthusiastically  of  his  work 
among  the  soldiers,  and  I  have  frequently  heard 
him  since  speak  very  earnestly  of  the  pleasure  his 
labors  among  them  gave  him. 

"  I  have  no  means  at  hand  of  ascertaining  the 
number  of  professions  of  conversion  in  connection 
with  his  labors,  but  I  know  there  were  many ;  I 
am  sure  that  many  of  God's  people  were  strength- 
ened and  built  up  by  the  '  strong  meat '  he  gave 
them,  and  I  doubt  not  that  he  won  in  this  field 
many  'jewels,  bright  jewels,'  for  his  Saviour's  diar 
dem — many  '  stars '  that  now  glitter  in  his  own 

'crown  of  rejoicing.' 

"J.  Wm.  Jones." 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  163 


A  SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE. 


"  And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose."— 
Romans  viii.  28. 

We  accept,  and  intend  to  maintain  this  proposition  in  its 
obvious,  that  is  its  utmost  breadth.  It  manifestly  has  this 
extent  of  meaning,  that  all  the  machinery  of  dead,  and  all 
the  organisms  of  living  nature,  all  the  simultaneous,  and  all 
the  successive  actions  of  men,  angels  and  devils,  as  \\ell  as  the 
immediate  activities  of  God  Himself,  are  embraced  in  a 
system  of  unqualified  beneficence  to  Christians.  Certain 
features  of  the  system  may  be  singly  harsh,  but  they  are 
adjusted  with  infinite  skill,  as  foils,  to  the  benignity  of  its 
entire  countenance.  Some  object  to  the  all  embracing  com- 
prehension, which  we  give  our  passage,  on  the  ground  that 
only  the  afflictions  of  the  saints  are  alluded  to,  in  the  context, 
as  digested  into  a  system  of  grim-visaged  mercy.  The  afilic- 
tions  of  the  saints  are  indeed  in  the  context,  but  they  are  there 
as  the  occasions,  and  not  as  the  grounds  of  the  statement 
which  furnishes  our  topic.  Now,  while  conclusions  cannot 
legitimately  go  beyond  their  premises,  nothing  is  more  usual  or 
more  allowable  than  that  principles,  are  pushed  beyond  the  occa- 
sions of  their  announcement.    Human  tribunals  often  formally 


164  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

propose  doctrines  affecting  the  most  important  legal  contro- 
versies in  deciding  cases  directly  involving  only  a  few  dimes. 
And  a  similar  extension  of  principles,  so  as  to  out-reach  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  are  imbedded,  is  characteristic 
of  Divine  revelation.  Even  if  there  were  (as  there  is  not) 
anvthing  in  the  original  text  justifying  the  rendering  "all 
these  things  "  instead  of  "  all  things,"  the  unlimited  proposition 
would  still  be  necessarily  implied,  though  not  expressly  stated. 
If  sufferings  are  planned  upon  a  method  of  disciplinary  mercy, 
they  can  only  form  a  part  of  a  still  more  comprehensive  sys- 
tem. For  otherwise,  events  wearing  a  friendly  aspect,  or 
hoisting  neutral  colors,  would  ever  be  thwarting  the  stern  and 
frowning  method.  Gleams  of  sunshine  would  disturb  the 
salutary  effect  of  clouds  freighted  with  blessings ;  and  the 
smile  of  our  Father  would  interfere  with  the  well-weighed 
effect  of  the  graver  countenance  of  His  love ;  it  is  then  as 
repugnant  to  reason,  as  it  is  revolting  to  our  religious  intui- 
tions to  affirm  that  God's  frowns  are  systematic,  and  His 
smiles  desultory,  and  occasional.  If  then,  there  is  any  system 
of  merciful  providence  over  Christians,  that  system  is  neces- 
sarily all-embracing.  But  you  ask  why  consume  time  on  so 
clear  a  matter?  And  I  pass  from  the  statement  to  the  discus- 
sion of  our  proposition. 

It  is  indispensable  to  a  proper  decision  on  the  conclusiveness 
of  the  arguments,  to  be  submitted,  that  the  basis  on  which  we 
rest  the  doctrine  be  clearly  understood.  We  establish  our 
proposition  simply  by  the  authority  of  Scripture,  we  confirm 
it  by  its  beautiful  correspondence  with  what  reason  teaches  of 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENGE.  165 

the  infinitely  active  beneficence  of  God  towards  those  who  are 
at  peace  with  Him,  and  we  vindicate  it  from  the  charge 
of  being  in  irreconcilable  conflict  with  the  testimony  of 
experience  and  philosophy,  to  the  prevalence  of  inflexible  law 
in  the  Divine  government. 

We  are  sure  of  commending  it  to  the  hearty  acceptance  of 
our  hearers,  when  we  show  that  it  is  a  deliverance  of  the  well- 
attested  word  of  God,  and  that  it  is  not  a  square  and  necessary 
contradiction  of  any  demonstrated  truth.  We  do  not  base  the 
minute  providence  over  the  Christian,  for  which  we  contend, 
on  the  experience  of  individuals,  or  on  history,  the  experience 
of  the  race.  Reason  may  conceive  that  opposing  events,  like 
streamlets  gushing  from  opposite  sides  of  a  hill,  may  be  tribu- 
taries to  the  same  stream  of  beneficence,  and  that  all  the 
bewildering  maze  of  forces  that  seems  to  revel  so  capriciously 
around  the  Christian,  is  marshaled  with  exactest  method,  by 
the  Captain  of  His  salvation. 

But  what  reason  can  conceive  as  possible,  experience  cannot 
assert  as  actual.  History  maintains  with,  we  believe,  a  justi- 
fied confidence  that,  when  masses  of  men  and  centuries  of  time 
are  considered,  the  course  of  events  is,  on  the  whole,  favorable 
to  virtue.  It  is,  however,  utterly  unable  to  assert  that  out- 
ward prosperity  is,  with  any  approach  to  uniformity,  meted 
out  to  individuals  according  to  merit. 

If  modern  novelists,  wish  to  make  nature  their  standard, 
their  closing  award  of  exposure  and  frustration  to  the  wicked, 
and  of  vindication  and  happiness  to  their  favorites,  temporarily 
hindered  of  good,  is  a  justice  altogether  too  poetical.     The 


166  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

grand  old  Greek  dramatists,  orphaned  of  God  and  of  hope, 
were  scarcely  on  a  greater  extreme  when  they  arrayed  their 
highest  conceptions  of  human  excellence  in  unequal  contest, 
with  unjust  gods  and  inexorable  fate.  So  dark  was  their 
picture  of  human  life  that  tragedy,  the  name  of  their  more 
serious  drama,  has  become  the  current  word  for  an  act  that 
curdles  the  blood,  and  catastrophe,  its  close,  is  the  usual 
designation  of  a  startling  explosion  of  horrors.  History 
presents  innumerable  facts,  hardly  less  sombre  than  their 
melancholy  fiction. 

The  pioneers  of  human  progress,  have  generally  led  the  van 
through  dreary  deserts,  and  have  often  died  uucheered  by 
even  a  sight  of  the  promised  land.  Miltons  have  lived  in 
blindness,  and  died  in  poverty  and  neglect,  while  blaspheming 
triflers  and  libertines  were  surfeiting  on  exactions  wrung 
from  the  toiling  million.  Antichrist  fattens  on  human  blood, 
and  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  cry  from  under  the  altar,  "  How 
long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge 
our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ? " 

How  indifferent  would  God  seem  to  be  to  the  interests  of 
His  church.  Infidels  at  eighty,  with  natural  force  unabated, 
belch  forth  their  horid  ribaldry,  when  men  like  Dr.  Bagby 
fall  just  as  their  lives  are  beginning  to  yield  the  full  fruitage 
of  a  half-century's  skillful  and  diligent  culture.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  those  who  read  only  the  surface  of  facts,  should 
misconceive  God's  attitude  toward  the  struggles  of  truth.  No 
wonder  that  Epicurus  thought  God  took  no  side  in  the  con- 
flicts of  life,  and  that  Napoleon  thought  He  took  the  side  of 
the  heaviest  artillery ! 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  167 

It  would  argue  a  causeless  jealousy  in  the  irreligious  to 
accuse  the  Almighty  of  partiality  to  Christians  simply  as  such, 
from  the  marked  character  of  His  external  favors.  Temper- 
ance, and  the  prudent  management  of  the  body,  generally 
lead  the  worldling  and  the  Christian  alike  to  health.  The 
skill,  industry,  and  economy  of  each,  equally  conduces  to 
wealth.  Not  only,  does  not  the  unskilful  Christian  prosper  in 
business  beyond  the  sagacious  man  of  the  world,  but  the  obe- 
dience of  the  one  to  the  laws  of  accumulation  seems  as  likely 
as  that  of  the  other  to  be  rewarded  with  the  good  that  lies  in 
that  line ;  and  extraordinary  events  to  fiivor  or  to  thwart  the 
attainment  of  material  good,  appear  about  equally  to  befall 
each.  We  must  then  have  better  proof  of  the  truth  of  our 
text  than  the  facility  with  which  we  can  show  that  the  fertili- 
izing  showers,  are  singularly  partial  to  the  fields  of  the  saints, 
and  that  the  destructive  thunderbolt  is  manifestly  signaled 
away  from  churches  and  aimed  with  special  frequency  at 
brothels  and  gaming  saloons. 

Yet  there  is  nothing  in  all  this  to  show  that  the  Christian  is 
not  in  the  midst  of  a  system  whose  minutest  details  are  regu- 
lated mercies.  A  chaos  of  events  is  apparently  beating  upon 
his  soul.  But  this  event  brings  spiritual  food — this  is  a  merci- 
ful blister  for  his  fevered  passions — this  is  cautery — this  is 
soothing  lotion — all  is  graciously  timed  and  graduated.  This 
seeming  jumble  of  influences  that  address  the  soul,  is  a  well- 
ordered  succession  of  types  charged  to  make  a  most  gracious, 
but  invisible,  imprint  for  eternity. 

Christian,  you  have  not  for  this  the  evidence  of  sense,  but 


168  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.LLD. 

you  have  the  clear  and  abundant  testimony  of  Scripture. 
"  Your  shoes  shall  be  iron  and  brass,  and  as  your  day  so  shall 
your  strength  be."  "Thine  eyes  did  see  my  substance  yet 
being  imperfect,  and,  in  Thy  book,  all  my  members  were  written 
which  in  continuance  were  fashioned  when  as  yet  there  were 
none  of  them."  "  The  hairs  of  your  heads  are  all  numbered." 
"  Our  light  afflictions  which  are  but  for  a  moment  work  for  us 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  Kot  to 
multiply  passages,  we  cite  only  in  addition  the  clear  and  ex- 
plicit text  of  the  present  discourse. 

Who  will  affirm  on  the  mere  negative  testimony  of  sense, 
that  God  has  not  arranged  the  uuiverse  of  matter  and  of 
mind,  in  whole  and  in  detail,  with  most  beneficent  regard  to 
each  saint  and  to  the  whole  church  ?  Is  the  material  creation 
too  vast  and  complicated — is  matter  too  sullenly  inert  to 
become,  even  at  the  fiat  of  omnipotence,  instinct  with  order 
and  animation  to  this  end  ?  Will  any  one  deny  to  Him  who 
holds  the  keys  of  the  bottomless  pit,  the  power  and  the  purpose 
to  more  than  defeat  the  schemes  of  devils  and  lead  them  forth 
a  scowling  chain-gang  to  work  on  the  highway  that  leads  the 
saints  to  glory  ? 

We  have  said  that  our  proposition  established  by  Scripture, 
is  corroborated  by  our  strongest  and  holiest  religious  institu- 
tions. It  is  the  great  problem  in  the  moral  government  of 
God,  for  which  we  are  probably  no  better  prepared  than  a 
child  is  to  comprehend  capital  punishment  in  the  administra- 
tion of  a  ruler  of  acknowledged  benevolence,  that  such  stern- 
ness is  threatened  against  God's  persistent  enemies.     But  this 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  169 

very  difficulty  commits  our  heart  and  intellect  still  more  to  the 
iudubitable  persuasion  of  His  abounding  grace  to  his  friends. 
Shall  we  put  any  limits  to  His  overflowing  grace  to  the  good, 
•when  we  find  it  so  hard  to  realize  His  severity  towards  the 
wicked  ? 

Men  are  puzzled  at  God's  rigor  to  Satan.  Still  they  cannot 
know  that  everything  in  His  original  nature,  the  whole 
material  universe,  if  it  then  existed,  and  all  the  angels  of 
heaven  did  not,  unite  in  one  solid  friendly  remonstrance 
against  His  first  conception  of  sin.  Shall  we  puzzle  too,  over 
the  assertion  that  the  resistance  of  the  unfallen  angels  to  His 
temptation,  strengthened  and  developed  their  holiness,  enrich- 
ing Heaven  with  all,  or  even  more  than  all  that  was  lost  in 
Hell  ?  Surely  the  fall  of  Adam  has  worked  good  to  those 
who  called,  according  to  the  Divine  purpose,  have  obeyed  the 
overtures  to  repentance  and  reconciliation.  It  has  revealed 
God  in  the  otherwise  impossible  attitude  of  mercy,  it  has 
furnished  the  conditions  of  the  cross.  It  has  been  the  occa- 
•sion  of  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  securing  to  the 
Christian,  an  impregnable  position  in  having  his  life  hid  with 
Christ  in  God. 

Will  you  fix  your  eye  on  the  system  of  peril  through  which 
so  much  mercy  has  been  dispensed,  and  not  consider  distinctly 
the  grace,  which  in  the  reign  of  a  God  of  love  must  be  its 
counterpart.  Even  the  peril  in  the  case  of  the  lost,  you  are 
too  prone  to  construe  into  an  inevitable  doom  to  destruction. 
When  you  transport  yourselves  to  the  beginning  of  the  present 
order  of  things,  and  attempt  to  look  through  the  perspective 


170  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

glass  of  the  Divine  foreknowledge,  you  illude  yourselves  with 
hideous  unrealities ;  you  seem  to  see  men  and  devils  gravi- 
tating down  the  slopes  of  necessary  thought,  and  running  the 
channels  of  fateful  habit,  and  dizzying  along  in  the  boiling 
■waves  of  passion,  and  finally  shooting  the  rapids  of  irresistible 
temptation.  Oh,  sirs,  use  the  more  manageable  glasses  of 
memory  and  conscience.  Look  at  some  slighter  cascade  of 
temptation,  which  you  have  recently  leaped,  and  see  if  con- 
science does  not  testify  you  might  have  resisted,  and  if  reason 
does  not  affirm,  that  you  might  not  only  have  repulsed  evil, 
but  conquered  it  and  enriched  yourselves  with  its  spoils.  It 
may  be,  that  the  power  of  resisted  trial  to  lift  the  victor  to  a 
higher  plane  of  excellence,  fully  vindicates  God's  stern  proba- 
tion of  moral  agents  in  locating,  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice, 
the  spring-board  on  Avhich  they  train  for  glory.  Risks,  so  rich 
in  the  possibilities  of  virtue  and  honor,  are  even  blessings  to 
those  whose  wilfulness  or  neglect,  converts  them  into  curses. 
And  to  complain  of  them,  may,  for  aught  we  know,  be  as 
absurd,  as  for  a  son  to  complain  of  his  father  for  giving  him. 
an  opportunity  to  cultivate  his  mechanical  ingenuity,  by 
putting  into  his  hands  the  pocket-knife,  with  which  he  might 
carelessly  cut  his  fingers. 

Sinners,  you  are  still  in  the  region  of  uudecided  risks ;  the 
Lord  has  not  settled  upon  you  your  rich  endowment  of  talents 
by  fixed  entail ;  you  are  not  hampered  in  freely  putting  the 
Lord's  money  to  the  exchangers. 

In  the  exercise  of  your  freedom,  commit  your  treasure  to  the 
Redeemer,  and  exchange  peril  fur  absolute  safety.     You  are 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PEOVIDENCE.  171 

offended  by  probation ;  forfeited,  you  are  puzzled  by  proba- 
tions, pending  your  best  conceptions  of  God,  then  unite  with 
Scripture  in  pointing  to  a  people  abiding  in  full  security,  and 
on  whom  the  whole  scheme  of  providence  bends  a  direct  and 
benignant  gaze.  Sinner,  come  to  the  place  of  safety.  Your 
soul  is  in  peril ;  forces  now  in  motion  are  converging  by  the 
shortest  lines  for  your  investment ;  the  great  king  holds  them. 
The  heralds  come  forward  with  terms  of  peace,  and  seek  with 
steadfast  importunity,  to  fix  your  eyes  on  white-winged  mercy, 
hovering  over  you  a  moment  in  breathless  interest  before  she 
weighs  her  pinions  for  her  eternal  flight.  Come  to  where  all 
things  work  together  for  good — where  Divine  providence 
envelops  you  in  an  atmosphere  of  life  and  light,  and 
fragrance,  and  sits  to  you  all  around  as  a  girdle  of  strength, 
and  a  garment  of  beauty.  But  upon  you.  Christian,  that 
dwell  under  the  shadow  of  the  wing  of  the  Almighty,  and 
upon  you  only  this  precarious  truth,  sheds  its  full  light  and 
warmth.  It  assures  you  that  all  the  material  and  all  the 
spiritual  forces,  that  have  been  in  motion  since  first,  "  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy,"  converge  in  lines  of  mercy  on 
your  present  position.  And  whether  you  are  flooded  with  the 
radiance  which  beamed  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  or 
buried  in  the  darkness  which  shrouded  the  three  disciples  in 
Gethsemane,  it  is  good  to  be  here,  and  here  you  should  raise 
vour  Ebenezer.  It  reveals  most  beneficent  stings  in  the 
thistles  that  luxuriate  around  you.  It  warrants  that  the 
fields  which  you  are  now  sowing  in  tears,  shall  yield  richer 
fruits  and  rarer  flowers,  than  Eden  bore. 


172  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

We  come  now  to  consider  objections  to  this  doctrine ;  and 
here  we  explicitly  insist  on  what  has  been  suggested,  that 
simple  difficulties  in  realizing  all  the  applications  of  the  doc- 
trine, by  no  means  explode  it.  If  difficulties  should  justify 
a  reflection  of  statements  about  God  we  could  safely  divest 
Him  of  each  of  His  attributes,  and  even  deny  to  Him 
existence.  Difficulties  that  legitimate  even  a  doubt  of  the 
well  avouched  teachings  of  inspiration,  must  be  demonstrated 
impossibilities  or  contradictions. 

"NYe  confidently  deny  this  character  to  the  difficulties  which 
men  of  science  find  in  our  doctrine.  The  doubts  of  philoso- 
phers will  be  found  impotent  not  to  disprove,  while  their  posi- 
tive and  certain  truths,  go  far  to  demonstrate.  Philosophers 
love  to  proclaim  that  "  all  things  work  together."  They  find 
then  that  God  works  on  a  most  comprehensive  plan.  We 
contend,  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  that  God  marshals 
everything  that  affects  the  Christian  according  to  a  most 
exact  method.  They  are  the  champions  of  the  principle  that, 
"  Order  is  Heaven's  first  law." 

Having  created  a  presumption  in  favor  of  its  widest  extent, 
will  they  abandon  it  just  where  it  affects  our  most  important 
interests?  We  think  the  man  of  science  goes  far  towards 
establishing  our  position.  We  are  right  sure  that  he  is  utterly 
unable  to  overthrow  it.  "All  things  work  together,"  he 
admits.  Then  farewell  to  atheism  !  For  what  think  you  of 
whole  codes  of  natural  law,  self-enacted,  and  innumerable 
bodies  self-moved,  each  adjusted  to  each,  with  exactest  sym- 
metry, each  performing  its  appropriate  work,  and  furnishing 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  173 

collateral  employment  to  every  other.  Some  creeping  like  the 
shadow  of  the  dial,  some  winged  with  lightning,  yet  each 
delivering  to  each,  its  prescribed  task  at  the  appointed  time  ? 
What  an  exaggerated  compliment  to  the  movements  of 
armies,  and  the  intricate  organization  of  states,  to  compare 
them  to  clock  work ;  but  what  halting  justice  to  the  mechanism 
of  God !  Here  is  the  great  organizing  mind.  "  All  things 
work  together."  The  atmosphere  draws  upon  the  oceans  in 
favor  of  the  ftiiling  fountains,  and  the  parched  fields.  The 
rivers  roll  back  the  surplus.  "  All  its  rivers  run  into  the  sea, 
yet  the  sea  is  not  full."     What  exquisite  adjustment. 

While  scores  of  illustrations,  equally  striking,  solicit  men- 
tion, let  us  for  brevity,  restrict  ourselves  to  one  more,  and 
that  too,  connected  with  the  air.  Every  animal  is  inhaling 
oxygen,  and  breathing  out  carbonic  acid.  Every  vegetable 
is  absorbing  carbonic  acid,  emitting  oxygen.  A  very  slight 
increase  of  oxygen  would  be  to  men  as  intoxicating  as  brandy, 
and  fire  their  brains  into  frenzy,  while  a  little  deficiency  would 
lull  them  into  lethargy.  Now,  so  admirable  are  the  count- 
less tribes  of  vegetable  creation,  balanced  against  the  varied 
hosts  of  the  animal  kingdom,  that  the  atmosphere  is  pre- 
served without  appreciable  change.  So  precise  is  the  balance, 
that  it  would  seem,  neither  a  sparrow  could  fall  to  the  ground 
on  this  side,  nor  a  blade  of  grass  be  cast  into  the  oven  on 
that  side,  without  its  disturbance.  The  tests  of  scientific 
men  in  this  case,  rather  suggest  than  refute,  the  specialty  of 
providence  for  which  we  contend.  Where  they  find  some 
departures  from  a  method  which   delights  the  sense,  they. 


174  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

themseU'CS  dcnioustrate  a  still  higher  method  which  satisfies 
the  mind.  Discovering  some  irregularities  in  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  alarmed  lest  remorseless,  law  should 
dash  together  the  revolving  worlds,  they  make  intricate  cal- 
culations, and  find  these  disturbances  consistent  with,  yea, 
even  necessary  to  the  stability  of  the  system.  They  meet 
everywhere  in  nature,  arrangements  like  the  governor  of  a 
steam  engine,  tending  to  make  the  very  acceleration  of  motion 
reduce  the  moving  force. 

Everywhere  in  nature  they  point  us  to  certain  superior 
limits,  above  which  its  elements  cannot  rise ;  and  certain  in- 
ferior limits  below  which  they  cannot  fall.  All  the  move- 
ments of  science  are  in  the  direction  of  the  doctrine  that 
everything  is  especially  calculated  in  the  Divine  plan.  But, 
in  the  interests  of  the  laws  of  nature  which  she  worships, 
science  recoils  from  the  doctrine  which  she  has  almost  demon- 
strated. We  deny  that  there  is  any  necessary  conflict  between 
the  widest  and  most  rigorous  reign  of  natural  law  and  the 
most  specific  provision  for  every  event  in  the  life  of  the  Chris- 
tian. The  sparkling  satire  which  Mr.  Pope  hurls  at  the  doc- 
trine of  special  providence,  totally  misrepresents  it  as  requiring 
the  suspension  or  reversal  of  law.     Hear  him  : 

"  Think  we,  like  some  weak  prince,  tlie  Eternal  Cause, 
Prone  for  Ilis  favorites,  to  I'everse  His  laws; 
Shall  burning  .Etna,  if  a  sage  requires. 
Forget  to  thunder  and  recall  her  fires ; 
On  air  or  sea  new  motions  be  impressed, 
Oh,  blameless  Betliel,  to  relieve  thy  breast? 
AVhen  the  loose  mountain  trembles  from  ou  high, 
Shall  gravitation  cease  if  you  go  by  ?  " 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  175 

Certainly  not.  But  is  it  quite  impossible  tluit  God  should 
provide  against  our  passing  at  so  dangerous  a  moment,  unless 
we  can  thus  die  at  the  ripest  time  for  our  good  and  His 
glory  ?  We  admire  the  fixedness  of  Heaven's  laws  as  much 
as  Mr.  Pope.  AYe  could  >'0T  live  a  moment  in  a  world  of 
chance,  and  a  world  of  continued  miracle  would  be  entirely 
nnadapted  to  our  mental  economy.  But  we  demand  the 
proof  that  the  minutest  end  of  Divine  tenderness  requires  the 
slightest  suspension  of  the  order  of  nature. 

Dr.  M'Cosh,  we  think  it  is,  who  first  suggested  the  fruitful 
idea  of  the  accomplishment  of  special  ends,  by  the  exquisite 
adjustment  of  bodies  and  of  laws.  Let  us  embody  his  hint 
in  a  conception  somewhat  different  from  his  own.  Conceive, 
then,  the  material  universe  as  consisting  of  an  indefinite  num- 
ber of  moving  forces,  or  rather  moved  atoms.  What  hinders 
that  any  particle  or  collection  of  particles  should  have  been 
created  at  such  a  moment  of  infinite  duration,  and  impelled 
from  such  spot  in  infinite  space  in  such  direction  and  with 
such  energy  of  movement  as  to  reach  any  chosen  point  at  any 
given  time ;  and  that  any  number  of  particles,  or  collective 
bodies,  should  have  been  so  moved  as  at  any  required  moment 
to  maintain  any  desired  mutual  relation,  and  to  assume  as  a 
whole  any  desired  aspect  ?  One  body  may  be  moving  in  a 
bee-line  to  the  destruction  of  another ;  a  third,  charged  with 
the  orders  of  the  Ancient  of  days,  may  so  wing  its  measured 
flight  as  to  cross  the  track  of  the  assailant  and  lift  away  the 
victim  in  the  very  crisis  of  its  fate !  Several  forces  may  meet 
at  a  required  angle  and  change  their  rigid  lines  of  motion 


]  70  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

iuto  graceful  curves,  or  any  number  of  tliem  may  assemble 
as  relays  at  appointed  stations,  and,  like  steeds  of  varying 
strength  and  speed,  wheel  the  Lord's  artillery  or  the  Lord's 
cars,  freighted  with  mercy,  in  labyrinths  that  mock  the  Calcu- 
lus. But  our  conception  is  too  simple.  All  action,  mechan- 
ical, chemical,  or  physiological,  produces,  indeed,  or  destroys 
motion  ;  and,  however  numerous  the  impacts  on  a  single  body, 
there  is  only  a  single  resultant  movement.  But  the  bodies  in 
nature  are  diverse,  each  order  having  many-sided  and  pecu- 
liar relations  to  every  other.  Some  brought  into  new  prox- 
imities, develop  sympathies  or  antipathies  that  have  slumbered 
from  eternity.  There  will,  therefore,  be  not  only  the  innu- 
merable original  jorojections,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  but  the 
immensely  more  numerous  perturbations  due  to  the  action  of 
body  on  body.  The  question  is  not  whether  it  is  hard  to 
imagine  hoAV  God  keeps  all  things  in  motion  without  any 
natural  collision,  except  such  as  suit  a  definite  purpose  towards 
all,  and  towards  each ;  but  is  it  impossible  to  conceive  that  w'ith 
absolute  command  of  time,  and  space,  and  degree  of  motion,  God 
can  execute  a  definite  purpose  in  regard  to  every  particle  of  mat- 
ter. It  is  hard  for  some  to  imagine  their  heads  pointing  with- 
out inconvenience  in  all  directions  which  the  rotation  of  the 
earth  demands.  It  is  harder  still  to  picture  a  nail  in  a  cart- 
felloe  as  never  going  backwards  in  absolute  space,  while  the 
wheel  revolves.  It  is  extremely  hard  to  imagine  the  moon  as 
passing  in  every  revolution  directly  between  the  earth  and  the 
sun,  and  its  orbit  still,  as  always,  concave  to  both  these  bodies ; 
yet  all  these  things  so  hard  to  imagine  are  demonstrably  true. 


SERMON  ON  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  177 

It  is  certainly  unpliilosopliical  to  deny  a  well  authenticated 
statement,  which  cannot  be  disproved,  because  a  faculty,  so 
easily  bewildered  in  trying  to  follow  the  track  of  demonstra- 
tion, cannot  realize  it. 

Philosophers  assure  us  that  the  perturbations  of  the  planets 
conduce  to  the  stability  of  the  solar  system.  Can  they  assure 
that  these  disturbing  actions  of  substance  on  substance  have 
not  been  planned  Avith  a  view  to  flexibility  ?  The  man  of 
science  tells  us  "  the  Lord's  steps  are  all  ordered  and  they  are 
all  steady  and  strong."  "  Yes,"  says  the  man  of  faith,  "  and 
they  are  likewise  all  graceful  and  lithe."  His  flexible  hand 
guides  the  blind  atoms  through  their  mazy  gropings  to  their 
predetermined  station  in  the  body  of  the  forest  oak.  His  deli- 
cate strokes  have  fashioned  the  light  armor  of  the  electric 
warriors,  and  His  voice  summons  by  name  the  picked  aerial 
squadrons  that  hurl  on  the  devoted  tree  their  resistless  charge. 
You  are  to-day  constituted  of  innumerable  atoms  that  since 
the  dawn  of  time  have  been  on  their  march  to  their  present 
rendezvous  in  your  bodies ;  and  notwithstanding  their  appa- 
rent revelry  of  motion,  every  step  has  been  taken  under  the 
eye  of  the  commander  and  with  more  than  military  precision. 
This,  you  say,  is  assertion.  But  it  is  assertion,  founded  on  the 
Word  of  God,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  conceivable.  Can  it 
be  shown  against  us  that  God  has  not  numbered  the  hairs  of 
the  heads  of  His  people  ?  that  He  has  not  guided  to  its  place 
each  droplet  of  moisture  which  lends  to  their  gloss,  and  each 
molecule  of  light  which  contributes  to  their  color  ?  Is  it  too 
much  for  God  to  have  moved  by  general  laws  every  minutest 


178  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

thing  to  its  present  altitude  in  the  face  of  nature,  and  to  have 
given  to  the  whole  face  and  each  most  delicate  feature  an 
aspect  of  benignity  to  the  Christian  ? 

There  might  be  suppo.-ed  still  greater  difficulty  in  admitting 
that,  the  minute  plans  of  Divine  mercy  to  the  saints,  are  not 
in  danger  of  being  disconcerted  by  the  action  of  rational 
beings.  Shall  they  not  in  misguided  affection,  or  in  the 
malignity,  or  caprice  of  their  wills,  thwart  the  details  of  the 
Divine  scheme  ?  Discarding  all  subtleties  about  fate  and  free 
will,  let  us  take  the  testimony  of  analogy  on  this  question. 
You  foresee  the  movements  of  great  masses  of  men  (quite  as 
well  as  you  do  those  of  great  masses  of  matter).  You  predict 
the  actions  of  individuals  even  more  confidently  than  you  do 
the  courses  of  the  winds.  And  shall  not  God  adjust  His 
plans  with  reference  to  the  conduct  of  intelligent  beings? 
You  can  count  upon  the  actions  of  men,  quite  as  confidently 
as  upon  the  operations  of  those  parts  of  nature,  with  which 
you  come  immediately  into  contact.  General  Lee,  who  with 
such  wonderful  prescience,  anticipated  for  so  long  all  the 
movements  of  his  enemy,  doubtless  understood  General  Grant 
better  than  he  did  the  weather.  A  skilful  player,  not  only 
foresees,  but  compels  the  moves  of  his  antagonist.  In  the 
light  of  these  illustrations,  where  is  the  difficulty  of  conceiv- 
ing God  as  controlling,  without  direct  coercion  some  steps 
of  enemies,  and  defeating  others?  Whether  then,  God 
brings  wicked  men  and  devils  under  close  investment, 
or  allows  them  the  largest  liberty  of  the  field,  there  is  no 
reason    to   doubt    that    He   will   weave    their    narrow   and 


SERMON  OX  SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE.  179 

malignant   wills   into   the   web   of   His   comprehensive   and 
gracious  designs. 

It  is  delightful  to  think  how  God  works  in  our  own 
wills  towards  inditing  our  petitions.  You  will  probably 
pray  to-night.  God  we  think,  will  not  absolutely  and  irre- 
sistibly, coerce  your  wills  to  certain  petitions.  Yet,  He  will 
so  flood  your  mind  with  light,  so  quicken  your  desires,  so 
distinctly  present  to  you  what  you  need,  and  ply  you  with 
such  gentle  importunate,  almost  imperious  persuasion,  that 
you  will  say  we  could  scarcely  help  praying.  Certainly  if 
you  are  to  pray ;  He  knows  your  petition  in  advance.  He 
has  understood  your  thought  afar  oft'.  The  trains  have  already 
been  long  on  the  way  loaded,  with  the  presents  which  God's 
children  are  yet  to  ask  fur.  And  my  Lord  will  not  delay 
His  coming ! 


180  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN.  DD.  LLD. 


CHAPTER  VIIT. 

THE    COUNTRY    PASTOR. 

rpilE  older  reader  will  readily  recall  the  eol- 
lapsed  and  desolate  condition  in  wliich  Vir- 
ginia was  left  by  the  Civil  War.  For  four  years  her 
fields  had  been  trampled  by  contending  armies, 
and  her  air  had  trembled  with  the  roar  of  con- 
tinuous battle.  Her  towns  had  been  transformed 
into  barracks  and  hospitals.  Not  only  had  there 
been  the  great  battles  in  which  vast  armies  strug- 
gled for  the  mastery,  but  the  raider,  the  barn- 
burner and  the  deserter,  had  penetrated  in  almost 
every  nook  and  corner  of  the  State,  carrying  waste 
and  wreck  everywhere  they  went.  The  Southern 
soldiers,  scattered  over  every  part  of  the  State, 
bleeding  with  wounds,  famishing  for  bread,  and 
sometimes  reckless  in  their  necessities,  had  joined 
with  the  invader  in  consuming  the  substance  of 
the  old  Dominion.  When  the  end  came,  it  was  a 
tragedy ;  the  star  of  Southern  hope  went  down  in 
blackest  night.  The  days  which  followed  were 
so  full  of  bitterness  and  despair,  that  many  of  the 
older  people,  stripped  of  strength  and  fortune,  sank 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  181 

broken-hearted  to  their  graves.  In  almost  every 
family  grave-yard,  there  was  a  soldier's  grave ; 
sometimes  it  was  the  father,  sometimes  the  brother, 
sometimes  the  son,  and  sometimes  the  husband. 
Many  sat  down  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Lost  Cause, 
penniless  and  dejected,  and  felt  that  there  could 
be  no  future  for  them. 

The  country  home,  as  if  in  sympathy  with  the 
destructiveness  of  the  times,  had  sunken  to  decay. 
The  farms  were  fenceless  and  overrun  with  briars, 
and  reluctant  to  yield  to  the  touch  of  its  owner, 
just  returned  from  the  war.  Slavery  was  gone, 
the  State  was  without  government  or  resources ; 
the  people  were  reduced  to  penury ;  the  barns,  if 
not  in  ashes,  were  emptied ;  the  conquered  soldier 
was  not  permitted  to  bring  home  his  sword  that 
he  might  transform  it  into  an  implement  of  hus- 
bandry. It  is  enough  to  melt  one  to  pity  and 
tears,  even  now,  to  recall  the  discouragements 
under  which  our  men  undertook  in  the  late  spring 
of  1865,  without  suitable  utensils  or  stock,  to 
break  up  their  grounds  and  set  their  crops.  It 
is  due  to  them  to  say,  that  with  heroic  alacrity, 
many  of  them  promptly  accepted  the  situation, 
went  to  work,  and  by  indomitable  energy,  wooed 
prosperity  back  to  their  homes  and  fields.  Those 
who  sulked  in  despondency  and  cherished  bitter 


182  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

memories,  lost  their  chance,  sank  out  of  sight  and 
left  Virginia  as  an  open  field  to  her  nobler  sons. 

It  has  alread}'-  been  mentioned  that  A.  B.  Brown 
married  in  Pittsj'lvania  County.  At  the  time  of 
this  event,  the  father  of  his  wife,  was  according  to 
the  estimate  of  those  times,  quite  a  wealthy  gentle- 
man. In  a  partial  division  of  his  property,  Mr. 
Wimbish,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Brown,  in  accordance 
with  her  owai  choice,  gave  her  portion  in  money, 
which  was  deposited  in  a  Richmond  bank;  ten 
thousand  dollars  of  which,  were  subject  to  her 
husband's  order.  Sharing  the  hopefulness  of  the 
times,  they  allowed  this  money  to  remain  in  the 
bank,  and  it  was  lost  in  the  general  ruin  which 
came  at  last.  Mr.  Brown  entered  the  army  in 
1863,  and  continued  in  the  camp  until  the  autumn 
of  1864,  when  he  was  summoned  home  by  the 
illness  of  Mr.  Wimbish.  lie  did  not  return  to  the 
army ;  but  remained  quietly  Avith  his  family  till 
the  end  of  the  struggle. 

His  home  was  situated  on  the  border  line  of 
Pittsylvania  and  Halifax  counties,  and  as  his 
social  and  pastoral  relations  connected  him  with 
both  counties,  he  usually  spoke  of  the  two  together 
as  equally  his  home. 

For,  generations  these  counties  have  ranked 
among  the  most  prosperous  and  influential  in  the 


TPIE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  183 

State,  and  have  been  distinguished  for  the  respec- 
tability and  intelligence  of  their  citizens.  They 
form  an  important  part  of  that  wonderfully  fer- 
tile tobacco  garden,  so  widely  celebrated  for  pro- 
ducing the  yellow  leaf  tobacco. 

Owing  to  their  location  on  the  southern  border 
of  the  State,  these  counties  were  not  so  utterly 
wasted  by  the  war,  as  were  many  other  sections. 
In  Mr.  Brown's  absence,  his  farm  had  been 
cultivated  by  his  servants ;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  war,  he  had  supplies  sufficient  for  the 
opening  year.  His  slaves,  although  liberated  in 
April,  1865,  remained  with  him  till  the  end  of  the 
year,  and,  by  their  help,  he  was  enabled  to  refill 
his  storehouses  in  part  at  least.  To  this  he  added 
something  by  teaching  a  small  school.  The  next 
year  brought  upon  him  severe  trials.  His  former 
servants,  naturally  enough,  grew  weary  of  their 
confinement,  and  went  forth  to  taste  the  sweets  of 
their  new  liberty.  This  left  him  in  an  awkward 
dependency.  He  was  not  accustomed  to  the  work 
of  the  farm.  On  account  of  his  fragile  constitu- 
tion, he  was  poorly  fitted  for  enduring  the  hard- 
ships of  the  plantation,  and  all  of  his  habits  and 
tastes  allured  him  in  another  direction. 

As  best  he  could,  and  largely  without  help,  he 
undertook  the  care  of  the  farm.     To  those  who 


184  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BEOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

knew  him,  there  would  be  something  incongruous 
and  ludicrous,  if  there  was  not  so  much  that 
was  manly  and  pathetic  in  the  picture  of  A.  B. 
Brown  turning  away  from  his  companionship 
with  Plato,  Hamilton,  and  his  Greek  Testament, 
that  he  might  make  bread,  by  the  sweat  of  his 
face,  for  his  famil3^  It  will  bring  a  pensive 
smile  even  yet  to  the  cheeks  of  many  readers,  to 
think  of  him  as  he  followed  the  plow,  dropped  the 
corn,  planted  the  tobacco,  sowed  the  oats,  fed  his 
stock,  watched  the  weather,  and  communed  with 
his  more  practical  neighbors  about  the  knotty 
problems  of  the  plantation.  We  doubt  not  that 
many  of  the  old  farmers  chuckled  in  quiet  glee 
at  his  awkwardness  and  blunders  in  his  new 
avocation.  They  mistook  greatlj^  if  they  im- 
agined that  he  did  not  understand  the  agricul- 
tural art.  He  knew  the  science  of  agriculture 
with  a  thoroughness  that  was  extraordinary,  and 
while  he  shrank  from  the  details  of  a  farmer's 
life,  his  native  wit,  enriched  by  ample  culture, 
formed  in  his  character  the  basis  for  success  in 
agricultural  life. 

His  temporary  divorce  from  books  was  like  the 
enforced  absence  of  a  lover  from  the  chosen  of  his 
heart.  He  practiced  many  a  pious  fraud  upon  his 
agricultural  enthusiasm  by  whipping  out  his  Greek 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOll.  185 

Testament  at  the  end  of  the  furrow,  and  taking 
a  sip  at  the  fountain  of  truth. 

His  old  passion  for  teaching  speedily  revived, 
and  young  men  whose  education  had  heen  belated 
by  the  war,  flocked  to  his  house  and  sat  at  his  feet. 
The  impress  which  he  put  upon  those  youths  abides 
even  yet,  and  is  plainly  seen  in  their  noble  charac- 
ters and  commanding  influence.  The  grade  of 
intelligence  in  his  old  community  is  higher  to-day 
because  of  the  fact  that  many  of  its  citizens  had 
A.  B.  Brown  for  their  teacher  in  their  boyhood. 

But  above  his  love  of  teaching,  was  his  devotion 
to  the  pulpit.  Few  men  ever  possessed  such  sub- 
lime views  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  he  had.  He 
walked  the  mountain  heights.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  Baptist  churches  in  his  reach  began  to 
call  him  from  his  retreat,  and  he  was  not  unmind- 
ful of  their  summons. 

A  lack  of  space  forbids  anything  like  historical 
sketches  of  the  various  churches  in  his  two 
counties,  (for  he  claimed  them  both,)  which  from 
time  to  time  he  served.  Their  names,  at  least, 
deserved  to  be  embalmed  in  this  humble  tribute  to 
their  now  glorified  pastor.  They  were.  Mill  Stone, 
Arbor,  Ellis  Creek,  Greenfield,  Shockoe  and  Ca- 
tawba, County  Line,  and  possibly  others. 

It  may  surprise  some  that  a  man  of  such  sur- 


186  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BIIOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

passing  abilities  and  almost  immeasurable  learning, 
as  was  A.  13.  Brown,  sliould  be  called  to  minister  to 
country  cburclies. 

In  that  respect  he  was  a  favored  man.  He 
had  in  the  citizens  which  constituted  his  con- 
gregations, a  higher  type  of  thoughtfulness  and 
spiritual  maturity,  than  is  usually  found  in  a 
metropolitan  pastorate.  Country  people  do  not 
see  so  much  as  do  the  town  people,  but  they  read, 
and  think,  and  talk  together,  far  more.  They  ex- 
tract more  from  one  ripened  sermon  in  a  month, 
than  many  clattering  and  noisy  townsmen  pick  up 
from  the  elaborate  and  stilted  services,  which  are 
tri-weekly  rendered  in  many  great  city  churches. 
There  is  in  the  country  people,  a  candor,  and 
freedom,  and  responsiveness,  which  constitute  the 
preacher's  noblest  earthly  inspiration. 

Beside,  in  consenting  to  be  a  country  pastor, 
Mr.  Brown  only  followed  in  the  wake  of  many  of 
the  most  gifted  and  illustrious  Baptist  ministers, 
who  have  advanced  the  standard  and  enriched  the 
record  of  our  people.  Time  would  fail  to  bring 
out  even  to  momentary  view  our  Baptist  chiefs, 
who,  in  the  past — as  indeed,  many  are  doing  in 
the  present — have  eschewed  the  fastidious  and 
exacting  pastorates  of  the  city,  and  devoted  their 
whole  lives  to  a  well-contented  service  as  country 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  187 

pastors.  There  was  the  Elder  Andrew  Broaddus, 
who,  in  the  majesty  of  his  person,  greatly  sur- 
passed, as  in  his  graceful  and  thrilling  eloquence,  he 
stood  a  rival  of  Robert  Hall.  He  was  a  country  pas- 
tor, and  is  it  not  pardonable  to  say,  that  if  his  son. 
Rev.  Andrew  Broaddus,  DD.,  of  Caroline  County, 
Virginia,  falls  below  the  eagle  sweep  of  his  father's 
eloquence,  he  is  his  equal  in  purity  of  character, 
and  his  superior  in  biblical  learning,  perspicuity 
of  speech,  and  heavenly  power  to  win  men  from 
sin  to  God.  He,  too,  is  a  country  pastor.  There 
was  Robert  Semple — the  counsellor,  the  organizer, 
and  the  historian.  And  later,  in  the  same  region 
of  Virginia,  arose  Dr.  Richard  Hugh  Bagby — the 
man  of  rugged  face,  but  rich  in  scriptural  knowl- 
edge, and  one  of  the  wisest  pastors  that  the  Bap- 
tists of  Virginia  ever  had.  There  was  Barnett 
Grimsley,  the  Patrick  Henry  of  the  Virginia  pul- 
pit, with  a  voice  of  melody,  a  soul  of  love,  and  a 
tongue  touched  with  seraphic  speech ;  no  earthly 
inducement  could  ever  allure  him  from  his  Pied- 
mont home  and  his  country  churches,  to  the  trying 
scenes  of  the  city. 

There  was  Reuben  Jones,  just  translated  from 
beneath  the  juniper  tree,  where  he  often  wept,  to 
the  shade  of  the  Tree  of  Life ;  a  Chesterfield  in 
bearing,  a  poet  in  sentiment,  with  a  soul  full  of 


188  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LI.D. 

genial  humor,  and  a  man  of  might  with  men  and 
with  God.  For  the  bulk  of  his  long  career  he 
was  a  country  pastor. 

But  the  forms  of  brethren  now  gone,  and  of 
those  who  still  live,  swarm  before  my  fancy  an 
innumerable  host.  There  they  are — the  Hern- 
dons,  the  Witts,  the  Leftwiches,  the  Aliens,  the 
Harrises,  the  Rices,  the  Tyrees,  the  Dickinsons,  the 
Sydnors,  the  Masons,  the  Lees,  and  many,  many 
more  not  to  be  mentioned  here,  whose  names  are 
in  the  Book  of  Life. 

I  may  anticipate  what  is  to  follow  later  on, 
to  the  extent  of  saying,  that  the  years  spent  by 
A.  B.  Brown,  in  his  country  pastorate,  were  the 
most  growthful  part  of  his  life.  While  he  kept 
himself  abreast  of  the  times  in  social  and  political 
movements;  while  he  was  genial  and  neighborly, 
and  won  the  trustful  affection  of  his  people,  his 
kingdom  was  in  his  study,  and  his  King  met  him 
day  by  day  in  his  closet.  Occasionally,  he  sprang 
forth  to  public  view,  and  whenever  he  spoke,  his 
brethren  heard  him  gladly.  With  each  rolling 
year,  his  public  utterances  betokened  the  breadth 
of  his  research,  and  the  freshness  of  his  thoughts. 

As  he  grew  subjectively,  he  grew  in  true  and 
righteous  fame.  The  people  who  had  been  afraid 
of  him,  took  his  measure  anew,  and  saw  that  he 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  189 

was  great.  Soon  after  the  war,  Richmond  Col- 
lege, acknowledged  his  ability  and  worth,  by 
conferring  upon  him,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  Perhaps  it  will  be  a  friendly  relief  to 
the  curiosity  of  the  reader  to  say,  that  the  degree 
of  LLD.,  was  given  him  by  the  University  of 
Tennessee,  in  1884. 

When  he  was  offered  the  Professorship  of  Eng- 
lish, in  our  College,  his  churches  were  smitten  with 
distress.  They  lamented  his  loss  and  yet,  their 
devotion  to  him  speedily  adopted  the  generous 
suggestion,  that  their  loss  would  be  for  his  good. 
Every  summer  when  his  college  work  was  done, 
he  closed  his  home  in  Richmond,  and  hied  away 
to  his  country  home  in  Pittsylvania.  His  annual 
returns  were  hailed  with  joyful  acclamation,  and 
his  successors,  in  the  pastorate,  vied  with  each 
other  in  kindly  rivalry  to  bring  him  to  the  pulpits, 
and  have  him  preach  for  his  old  charges.  So  well 
content  was  he  to  linger  during  the  sultry  days, 
in  his  beloved  Pittsylvania,  that  it  was  hard  to 
tempt  him  away  for  any  purpose,  except  to  plead 
the  cause  of  Christian  education. 

But  we  come  now  to  the  time  when  he  preached 
his  farewell  sermons  to  his  bereaved  churches, 
and  set  out  for  that  post  at  which,  so  lately,  so 
suddenly,  and  so  gloriously  he  fell.     This  chapter 


190  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROW\,  DD.  LLD. 

must  not  be  closed,  until  some  of  those  who  were 
closely  associated  with  him  during  his  country  pas- 
torate, have  borne  their  tender  tribute  to  his  worth. 
First  in  the  voices  of  grief  and  admiration, 
which  come  to  us,  from  the  neighborhood  of  his 
country  home,  it  seems  that,  that  of  his  beloved 
friend  and  associate  in  ministerial  w'ork,  should 
appear  at  this  point.  Tliis  is  what  Rev.  Wm. 
Slate,  a  man  of  God  has  to  say : 

"It  will  be  my  purpose  to  write  something 
in  regard  to  his  worth  and  labors  since  I  hrst 
knew  him.  I  am  glad  it  has  been  my  privilege 
to  know  him  for  twenty-five  years.  I  have 
been  associated  with  a  good  many  ministers 
in  that  time — I  have  never  known  a  purer,  more 
unsellish  man.  He  w^as  exceedingly  liberal  for  his 
means ;  in  fact,  I  thought  him  too  much  so.  I 
have  been  with  him  in  meetings  when  different 
objects  w^ould  come  up,  and  I  knew  his  condition 
well  enough,  to  know,  he  was  not  able  to  give 
anything;  but  after  some  eloquent  appeal  he 
would  empty  his  pockets  of  the  last  cent.  I 
remember  on  one  occasion  at^a  District  Association 
at  Black  Walnut  (directly  after  the  war) ;  his 
noljle  wife  gave  him  money  to  purchase  a  vest,  and 
after  a  stirring  appeal  by  Dr.  A.  M.  Poindexter, 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  101 

in  behalf  of  Foreign  Missions,  he  got  up  and  said: 
'Here  is  money  my  wife  gave  me  when  I  left 
home  to  purchase  me  a  vest,  but  the  vest  may  go, 
and  I  will  do  without  it — and  Foreign  Missions 
can  have  it.'  At  another  time,  in  the  General 
Association,  when  an  urgent  appeal  was  made  for 
Richmond  College,  he  gave  his  bond  for  more 
than  he  could  aftbrd  to  do — I  told  him  so  at  the 
time — I  was  fearful  it  would  trouble  him  to  pay 
it ;  and  when  the  note  fell  due  he  was  unable  to 
meet  it,  and  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  horses, 
he  found  it  necessary  to  walk  twelve  or  fifteen 
miles  to  look  up  one  of  his  deacons,  more  highly 
favored  than  himself,  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
that  deacon  to  meet  his  note,  and  hold  it  up  until 
his  meagre  salary  was  paid  in,  so  that  he  could 
refund.  Thus,  you  see  he  was  one  of  the  most 
earnest  and  devoted  friends  of  Richmond  College. 
He  not  only  graced  the  Professor's  chair,  but  every- 
where he  went,  he  worked  for  the  college;  and 
long  years  before  he  was  made  Professor,  he  gave 
his  money  and  labor  for  its  upbuilding.  The 
general  sentiment  of  the  Baptists  of  this  section 
is,  that  Richmond  College  never  did  a  wiser 
thing  than  when  they  associated  him  with  the 
Faculty. 

"  Dr.  Brown  was  not  like  a  good  many  that  could 


192  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

see  the  mote  in  his  brother's  eye,  and  not  see  the 
beam  in  his  own  eye.  He  saw  his  own  faults  and 
would  admit  them  and  try  to  rectify  them.  He 
was  naturally  an  exceedingly  kind-hearted  man, 
and  tried  hard  to  help  everybody,  or  give  them 
some  word  of  encouragement.  T  remember  dis- 
tinctly the  first  time  I  ever  saw  him.  I  was  a 
poor  orphan  boy  in  Meadville,  at  school ;  going  to 
school  awdiile,  and  teaching  and  doing  the  best  I 
could  to  obtain  my  education.  Some  one  told 
him  my  condition  ;  how  hard  I  Avas  working  to  get 
an  education,  and  that  I  wanted  to  be  a  minister; 
and  he  came  round  to  me  and  placed  his  hand  on 
my  head,  and  gave  me  such  w^ords  of  encourage- 
ment as  I  shall  never  forget.  The  night  the  sad 
news  reached  me  that  Dr.  A.  B.  Brown  was  no 
more,  I  could  not  sleep,  for  thinking  about  him 
and  the  noble  ones  that  had  gone  before  me — and 
several  times  that  night  I  felt  like  I  could  feel  the 
pressure  of  that  hand  on  my  head;  and  hear  the 
words  of  encouragement  he  repeated  to  me  then. 
"  Brother  Brown  lived  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  in  Pittsylvania,  near  his  wife's  father.  We 
labored  together  a  good  deal,  have  been  pastors 
of  the  same  churches.  Shockoe,  Greenfield,  County 
Line,  Eepublican  Grove,  were  his  churches  for  some 
time.     In  all  of  these  his  members  were  devoted 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  193 

to  him ;  and  I  hear  some  of  them  express  them- 
selves now — they  say,  truly,  a  mighty  man  has 
fallen — and  they  say  that  they  feel  almost  as  if 
one  of  their  own  household  was  gone.  It  w^as 
pleasant  to  work  with  Brother  Brown,  he  was 
always  so  humble.  No  matter  how^  much  his 
speeches  were  complimented,  or  his  sermons,  it 
never  seemed  to  puff  him — and  he  was  the  same 
Brown — and  would  often  say,  'you  may  think 
what  I  said  was  so  good,  but  I  don't  think  it 
much.'  But  the  great  and  good  man  has  fallen. 
May  we  all  meet  in  that  better  land,  where  parting 
is  no  more.  u  ^^i.  Slate." 

In  all  the  papers  that  will  appear  in  this  volume, 
this  is  the  only  one  that  comes  from  the  pen  of  a 
woman.  It  is  pleasant  to  introduce  Mrs.  Mary 
B.  Lacy,  the  accomplished  and  consecrated  Prin- 
cipal of  South  Boston  Female  Institute : 

"I  first  met  Rev.  A.  B.  Brown  in  the  fall  of 
1874.  He  was  then  pastor  of  Greenfield  Church, 
and  it  Avas  in  that  neighborhood  that  I  made  his 
acquaintance.  I  had  the  opportunity,  long  desired, 
of  hearing  him  preach.  His  subject,  was  the  Prodi- 
gal Son  ;  his  audience  an  average  country  congre- 
gation.    His  treatment  of  his  subject  was  all  that 


194  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

could  be  asked  even  of  him.  I  could  not  restrain 
my  tears,  and  there  were  few  there  who  could.  In 
the  family  circle,  at  the  house  of  one  of  his  mem- 
bers, he  showed  himself  the  kind,  pleasant,  sym- 
pathizing pastor.  It  was  evident  from  the  affection 
of  this  family  for  him,  that  he  knew  how  to  win 
the  hearts  of  his  flock.  Afterwards,  my  husband 
removed  to  lialiftix,  and  we  had  the  pleasure  of 
an  occasional  visit  from  Dr.  Brown.  His  name 
was  a  household  word  throughout  that  part  of  the 
county  with  which  I  was  acquainted,  and  but 
one  opinion  prevailed — that  his  talents  and  learn- 
ing demanded  a  wider  field,  but  that  'old  Halifax' 
would  sorely  miss  him,  all  of  which  proved  true. 
One  would  suppose  that  as  a  preacher  he  w^ould 
not  be  understood  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  and, 
doubtless,  in  some  of  his  most  exalted  moments, 
when  the  grand  reaches  of  his  imagination  could 
scarcely  find  words  even  in  his  vast  range  of  speech, 
he  could  not  be  followed  by  the  majority  of  his 
hearers ;  but  even  then,  there  was  always  an 
abundance  of  thought  which  could  be  appro- 
priated by  minds  of  every  capacity.  So  even  the 
plainest  of  his  hearers  was  pleased  and  taught, 
and  all  knew  and  valued  his  wortli.  I  have  heard 
plain  practical  formers,  with  no  school  culture,  say 
that  they  would  rather  talk  to  Dr.  Brown  and  hear 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  195 

him  talk  than  any  other  man  they  knew.  He 
seemed  at  home  on  every  subject,  and  he  learned 
from  any  one  who  knew  more  than  he  did,  whether 
the  topic  was  one  of  literature,  or  agriculture,  or 
mechanics.  Last  summer,  at  the  Roanoke  Asso- 
ciation, the  writer  heard  him  at  night  discussing 
the  difierent  modes  of  flue-curing  tobacco,  he  evi- 
dently knowing  all  the  theories,  and  desiring  to 
prove  which  was  the  best,  from  the  practical  ex- 
perience of  the  farmers  with  whom  he  was  talking. 
"In  conducting  family  worship,  he  was  often 
very  happy  in  his  remarks  on  the  passage  read. 
I  recall  now  a  pleasant  scene,  his  erect  figure, 
his  noble  head,  the  kindly  glance  of  his  eye,  the 
reverential  tones  of  his  voice,  as  he  read  the 
account  of  Cornelius'  vision.  How  full  of  encour- 
agement to  our  hearts  did  he  show  the  passage  to 
be.  '  We  must  not  limit  God's  power  by  time  and 
circumstance.  No  heart  that  truly  cries  to  him  is 
turned  away.'  '  Thy  prayer  is  heard,  and  thine 
alms  are  had  in  remembrance  in  the  sight  of  God.' 
Doubtless  in  many  a  home  in  Pittsylvania  and 
Halifax,  these  seasons  of  social  conversation  and 
worship  are  remembered  with  sad  joy.  Dear, 
noble,  faithful  minister  of  God,  thou  art  endeared 
to  us  not  by  the  splendor  of  thy  intellect,  nor  the 
treasures  of  thy  learning,  but  by  thy  sincere,  un- 


19G  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ostentations  piety,  and  thy  kindly  interest  in  all 
that  concern  the  true  Avelfare  of  others. 

"One  element  of  Dr.  Brown's  influence  over 
others,  was  the  respect  he  testified  towards  them. 
He  was  courteous,  and  friendly.  He  had  a 
'hearty'  manner  always,  and  a  willing  ear  even 
to  the  plainest,  and  never  seemed  conscious  that 
he  had  a  claim  to  superior  attention  or  respect. 
Thus  he  was  '  at  home '  in  the  humblest  cottage 
and  in  the  richest  mansion.  His  kindly  heart 
showed  itself  in  his  tenderness  toward  children. 
The  writer  has  seen  him  more  than  once  go  out  of 
his  way  to  salute  most  courteously  a  timid  little 
child,  when  grown  up  folks  were  waiting  and 
pressing  to  shake  his  hand.  Thank  God  that  such 
men  have  lived,  and  have  shown  the  'beauty  of  the 
Lord'  to  us.  How  deliiz:htful  the  thought  that  in 
Heaven  we  shall  have  their  society,  that  we  plainer 
folk  shall  also  be  glorified,  and  that  we  shall  be 
'like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.' 

"  Mary  B.  Lacy." 


Dr.  Brown  was  a  conscientious  and  outspoken 
Baptist.  His  convictions  w^ere  the  result  of 
scholarly  and  prayerful  investigation.  There  was 
no  touch  of  the  temporizing  spirit  in  him.     He 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  197 

was  always  ready  to  utter  liis  opinions,  and  to  fight 
for  them.  But  he  possessed  a  singularly  enlarged 
spirit  of  brotherhood  and  charity.  He  could  speak 
the  truth  in  love,  and  toward  those  who  differed 
from  him  he  bore  himself  with  a  courtesy  that 
was  real  and  magnetic.  Men  who  could  not 
agree  with  him,  could  not  withhold  their  respect 
for  his  honesty  and  courage.  His  relations  with 
Christians  of  other  names,  were  always  cordial 
and  fraternal.  As  a  result,  he  was  greatly  beloved 
by  Christian  people  of  other  denominations.  While 
he  lived  in  Richmond,  his  pastor,  who  was  slow  to 
ask  him  to  preach,  lest  he  might  do  so  to  his  bodily 
injury,  sometimes  playfully  upbraided  him  with 
being  more  ready  to  preach  for  the  Methodists  and 
the  Presbyterians,  than  he  was  for  his  own  church. 
To  this  he  would  reply,  "  I  can  afford  to  deny 
you,  but  the  other  brethren  might  misunderstand 
my  refusal."  Since  his  death,  many  beyond  the 
Baptist  lines  have  come  forward  to  honor  his 
memory.  I  gladly  give  place  to  the  subjoined 
paper,  so  chaste  and  beautiful,  from  a  Presbyte- 
rian gentleman  in  South  Boston  : 

"A  few  weeks  ago,  when  the  sad  intelligence 
came,  announcing  that  that  good  and  gifted  man. 
Rev.    A.   B.   Brown,  DD.,   had    passed   from    his 


198  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BllOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

labors  on  earth,  to  the  rest  and  reward  of  heaven, 
a  memorial  nieeting  to  his  memory,  was  held  at 
the  Baptist  Church  here,  at  which  time  it  was  the 
writer's  privilege  to  add  his  feeble  tribute  to  the 
worth  of  his  departed  friend  and  Christian  brother. 
I  consider  it  a  great  privilege  that  I  enjoyed  the 
acquaintance  and  friendship  of  such  a  man. 
Although  in  the  past  sixteen  years  that  I  have 
known  him  we  did  not  meet  very  frequently,  and 
then  only  for  short  periods,  from  the  freedom  and 
cordiality  of  our  intercourse,  I  think  I  can  claim 
him  for  a  friend. 

"  I  have  heard  him  in  the  pulpit,  as  with  incisive 
logic  and  matchless  eloquence  he  has  declared  the 
love  of  Christ  for  sinners,  and  pleaded  with  them 
to  accept  Ilim  as  their  Saviour;  I  have  heard  him 
in  the  Association  advocating  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  church's  work;  and  on  all  these 
theatres  of  his  usefulness  he  was  a  grand  man. 
Whenever  he  preached  or  spoke,  he  at  once  com- 
manded the  attention  of  all,  and  there  were  none 
but  delighted  auditors.  But  to  me  it  seemed  his 
genius  shone  out  with  brightest  lustre,  and  his 
soul  poured  out  its  highest  aspirations,  in  the 
social  family  circle.  It  may  be  because  here  I 
saw  him  most,  here  I  knew  him  best,  and  here 
he  touched  the  tender  chords  of  my  heart  that 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  199 

responded  with  love  and  admiration.  Thus,  when- 
ever opportunity  presented,  have  I  sought  him 
there,  and  listened  for  hours  as  the  rich  store- 
house of  his  mind  poured  out  its  choicest  fruits  in 
words  of  purest  English.  As  a  conversationalist, 
Dr.  Brown  had  few  superiors.  There  was  nothing 
superficial  about  him,  and  he  at  once  impressed 
upon  you  that  when  he  took  up  a  subject  he  never 
stopped,  until  he  had  entirely  mastered  it,  for  he 
would  begin  with  its  inception  and  carry  you 
logically  through  all  its  different  stages  of  develop- 
ment to  its  highest  results. 

"  His  ripe  scholarship  was  seen  in  the  fluency 
of  his  diction,  and  appropriate  choice  of  w^ords 
for  the  expression  of  his  ideas,  and  by  his  wonder- 
ful powers  of  illustration.  In  the  discussion  of  the 
most  profound  subjects  he  could  so' simplify  that 
the  most  ordinary  minds  could  comprehend.  While 
he  indulged  in  no  lightness  or  levity,  he  could  tell 
a  good  anecdote  with  so  much  point  and  force  that 
all  could  appreciate  its  humor. 

"  His  death,  at  the  period  of  his  greatest  useful- 
ness, is  a  loss  to  the  Christian  Church;  for  the 
influence  of  a  man  of  his  great  heart  and  broad 
intellect  cannot  be  confined  within  denominational 
limits. 

"  May   his   life    be    an    inspiration   to    others, 


200  LIFE  OF  A.  n.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

that   we    may  follow  hiin   even    as   he   followed 

Christ. 

"  '  Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done ! 
Praise  be  thy  new  employ ; 
And  while  eternal  ages  run, 
Rest  in  thy  Saviour's  joy.' 

"Joseph  Stebbins." 

South  Boston,  Va.,  Dec.  16, 1885. 

To  the  foregoing  papers,  must  be  added  yet 
another.  It  comes  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  S.  G. 
Mason,  an  aged  Baptist  minister  of  Mecklenburg 
County,  Va.  It  is,  indeed,  a  gentle  and  graceful 
tribute,  and  cannot  be  read  without  emotion  : 

"  I  first  met  Dr.  Brown  at  the  General  Associar 
tion,  held  in  Hampton,  in  the  year  1849,  and  was 
introduced  to  him  by  the  late  A.  M.  Poindexter. 
Bro.  P.  said  to  me  privately,  '  He  is  a  promising 
young  man,  and  I  have  secured  his  appointment 
as   missionary  for    the    Dan    River    Association.' 

"  It  was  during  this  period,  that  I  was  called 
upon  to  marry  him,  to  the  dear  young  sister  who 
became  his  companion  to  the  end  of  his  life.  We 
were  much  together  on  many  important  occasions, 
but  particularly  at  the  house  of  Bro.  Poindexter, 
who  was  our  theological  instructor  for  a  number 
of  years.     It  had  been  my  privilege  for  more  than 


THE  COUNTEY  PASTOR.  201 

ten  years  to  be  under  his  training,  and  now  my 
young  brother  Brown  became  associated  with  me, 
and  he,  as  well  as  myself,  was  greatly  indebted  to 
this  prince  of  theologians  and  preachers,  for  the 
instruction  which  he  received,  and  the  liberal 
hospitality  and  friendship  of  Bro.  Poindexter  and 
his  family. 

"While  he  was  at  Hollins  we  were  much  to- 
gej:her  also,  both  at  the  Institute  and  in  other 
places.  In  1856,  during  the  vacation,  I  obtained 
his  services  to  assist  me  in  a  meeting  at  Black 
Walnut,  Halifax.  The  meeting  continued  for 
seventeen  days,  and  was  the  second  best  meeting, 
all  things  considered,  I  ever  saw.  About  forty- 
five  of  the  most  valuable  and  influential  people  of 
the  community  professed  conversion,  and  nearly 
every  one  of  them  has  proven,  by  the  fruits  of 
their  lives,  that  their  profession  was  honest  and 
true.  Bro.  Brown  did  all  the  preaching — two, 
sermons  each  day, — and  they  were  certainly  the 
finest  series  of  sermons  I  have  ever  heard.  This 
was  the  expressed  opinion  also  of  all  the  people — 
of  all  classes  and  all  denominations.  We  were 
together  all  through  the  meeting,  day  and  night, 
and  never  have  I  known  one  more  in  the  true  spirit 
of  preaching  than  he  was  all  the  time.  His  ser- 
mons, while  so  grand  and  powerful,  were  still  so 

M 


202  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

plain  that  the  truths  of  salvation  took  hold  of  all 
classes,  young  as  well  as  old,  unlearned  as  well  as 
learned.  I  think  he  never  preached  better.  He 
himself  enjoyed  the  meeting  greatly. 

"In  187G  we  were  together  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Dan  River  Association,  held  with  the  Winns 
Creek  Church.  I  was  pastor  of  the  church,  and, 
as  usual,  it  devolved  on  me  and  the  deacons  to 
arrange  for  the  religious  services.  For  the  second 
day  we  decided  that  Dr.  Curry  and  Dr.  Brown 
should  preach  to  the  crowd  at  the  stand.  Brown 
and  myself  were  together  the  night  before,  and 
during  the  morning  hours  of  the  second  day,  and 
I  knew  he  was  preparing  to  preach  on  some  gen- 
eral subject.  Dr.  Curry  had  just  preached  one  of 
his  most  eloquent  sermons,  and  w^e  wTre  all  at  the 
stand,  waiting  for  Brown  to  come  on  and  preach  the 
second  sermon.  After  some  delay,  I  saw  him  coming 
np,  stepping  nervously,  and  when  he  reached  the 
stand  he  said  to  me,  trembling  with  excitement, 
*  Sing  a  song,  and  give  me  some  time  to  collect  my 
thoughts.  They  have  torn  me  all  to  pieces.'  The 
Association  had  just  passed  a  resolution  requesting 
him  to  deliver  a  memorial  address,  at  that  hour, 
upon  the  life  and  character  of  A.  M.  Poindexter, 
and  he  had  just  been  informed  of  the  resolution. 
I  felt  the  deepest  sympathy  for  my  friend,  as  he 


THE  COUNTRY  PASTOR.  203 

was  SO  suddenly  called  on,  without  time  to  pre- 
pare, and  to  follow  such  a  powerful  discourse  as 
was  Dr.  Currv's.  I  was  really  afraid  he  would 
fail.  But  he  had  not  proceeded  far  before  all  my 
fears  were  allayed.  Well,  I  will  not  say  that  he 
excelled  Dr.  Curry  in  power  and  eloquence.  But 
certainly  he  did  not  fall  below  him.  I  refer  to 
this  circumstance  to  illustrate  the  quickness  and 
power  of  his  intellect  when  roused  by  an  emergency. 
"I  suppose,  as  the  result  of  our  long  and  intimate 
associations,  I  knew  him  better  than  any  living 
man,  (if  we  except,  perhaps,  Charles  L.  Cocke,) 
and  I  desire  to  say  some  things  about  him.  First — 
as  a  friend :  The  man  was  favored,  indeed,  who 
had  secured  his  special  friendship;  modest  and 
kind,  just  and  true,  communicative  and  confiding, 
and  unchanging.  Second — As  a  gentleman  :  I 
have  but  seldom  met  with  his  equal,  and  certainly 
never  with  his  superior.  Third — as  a  Christian  : 
so  humble  and  modest,  so  spiritual  and  holy, 
and  yet  so  cheerful  and  hopeful ;  such  a  lover  of 
Christ  and  the  brethren,  such  a  lover  of  truth  and 
righteousness, — so  self-denying  and  cross-bearing. 
Fourth — feut,  if  I  had  time  and  ability,  it  is  of 
him  as  a  preacher  that  I  would  like  to  speak.  I 
have  often  said,  and  still  think,  that  he  was  the 
strongest  and  most  talented  preacher  v/e  had  in 


204  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

the  State,  next  to  A.  M.  Poindexter,  and  proba- 
bly his  equal.  His  sermons  abounded  in  the  most 
extensive  and  accurate  learning,  the  clearest  and 
soundest  logic,  the  most  polished  rhetoric,  and 
sometimes  the  most  powerful  eloquence ;  while  the 
subjec1>matter  was  always  the  purest  theology,  and 
the  soundest  orthodoxy.  In  the  figures  and  illus- 
trations of  his  sermons  he  certainly  excelled  all 
that  I  have  ever  heard  :  always  brief,  but  as 
clear  as  light :  no  redundancy,  and  no  lack.  The 
view  of  his  hearer  was  always  held  to  the  thought, 
while  the  figure  and  illustration  were  unnoticed. 
As  when  looking  on  an  object  through  a  perfectly 
clear  glass,  the  object  is  seen  in  all  its  proportions, 
while  the  glass  is  not  noticed. 

"S.  G.  Mason." 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  205 


FEMALE  EDUCATION. 


The  most  appropriate  topic  for  the  occasion  is  unfortunately 
very  trite.  It  has  often  been  discussed  with  great  keennesss 
of  analysis,  with  the  widest  comprehensiveness,  with  the  utmost 
minuteness,  and  with  the  amplest  wealth,  and  beauty  of  illus- 
tration. 

My  experience  in  practical  education  might  have  been  much 
greater  without  giving  me  any  special  qualification  to  discuss 
these  topics.  The  farmer's  business  makes  him  very  familiar 
with  corn,  yet  he  knows  very  little  better  than  any  other  what 
corn  is,  and  hardly  at  all  better  what  it  is  intrinsically  worth. 
The  physician  has  precious  little  advantage  over  any  other 
man  in  defining  health,  or  in  exhibiting  its  value.  He  would 
have  no  eminent  fitness  to  deliver  an  oration  on  the  blessings 
of  health,  though  he  might  in  his  quiet  way  do  much  to  pre- 
serve, promote  or  restore  health,  to  remove  or  mitigate  pain. 

The  teacher  maintains  a  similar  attitude  towards  education, 
and  has  no  special  adaptation  to  explain,  or  urge,  or  indicate 
education.  I  shall  not  try  to  escape  the  triteness  of  the  sub- 
ject, by  limiting  myself  to  the  consideration  of  female  education. 
Indeed  I  know  not,  whether  there  is  any  other  female  educa- 
tion, than  the  application  of  a  common  sexless  education  to 
females.  The  Romans  had  no  word  that  named  an  individual, — 


206  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BPvOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

gender.  It  is  the^atiire  which  underlies  the  use  of  this  word, 
that  is  the  object,  or,  if  you  prefer,  the  subject  of  education. 

What  if  it  were  true  that  man's  relative  stature  or  weight 
any  individual  of  the  human  race, — a  word  of  the  common 
is  the  ratio  of  his  intelligence  to  that  of  woman?  It  no  more 
follows  from  this,  that  he  should  have  another  education,  than 
that  he  should  have  another  diet.  What  if  it  is  true,  that  the 
average  male  intellect  is  more  characterized  by  strength,  and 
the  female  more  by  grace  and  beauty,  though  I  incline  to  think 
this  is  not  true  to  the  extent  those  would  insist  who  hastily 
make  the  physical  form  the  type  or  the  exponent  of  the  mind. 
There  is  much  poetry,  there  is  doubtless  some  truth,  in  the 
position,  that  the  mind  of  woman  is  in  some  vague  sense  the 
complement  of  that  of  the  man.  It  is  not  true,  that  either 
has  a  fticulty,  that  the  other  wholly  lacks.  Their  ultimate 
faculties,  absolutely  the  same,  therefore  male  aptitudes  may  be, 
probably  are,  slightly  varied,  so  as  not  only-beautifully  to 
blend,  their  different  contributions  in  the  drawing-room,  but 
to  render  their  interaction  at  the  fireside  an  almost  indispensa- 
ble utility  and  not  a  mere  luxury. 

But  whatever  differences  may  exist,  will  assert,  and  the 
more  healthily  manifest  themselves,  when  these  so  closely 
kindred  minds  are  nourished  by  the  same  generous  pabulum. 
I  confess  I  never  could  see  the  differences,  that  some  seem  to 
find,  between  the  mental  organizations  of  the  sexes. 

It  may  be  owing  to  a  mental  defect  wliich  I  have  to  lament, 
a  want  of  equal  capacity,  or  even  ec^ual  inclination,  to  read 
the  broad  label  of  a  class.     Take  a  favorite  distinction  between 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  207 

man,  as  a  logician  and  a  woman  as  an  instructionalist.  If  it 
existed  to  any  great  extent,  then,  indeed  the  development  of  a 
logical  power  is  one  of  the  great  designs  of  education — there 
would  be  the  less  need,  and  the  less  hope  of  female  culture. 
AVoman,  it  is  maintained,  seizes  a  truth  by  intuition,  or  an 
indefinable  instinct — does  not  get  by  logic,  and  cannot  logi- 
cally explain  it.  Man  sets  out  to  his  object  on  the  logical  road, 
goes  often  grandly,  gloriously  wrong.  He  takes  note  of  his 
error,  tries  again  in  the  same  highly  respectable  manner,  often 
exhausts  all  the  possibilities  of  mistakes,  and  at  least  marches 
regularly,  proudly  to  the  truth.  The  woman  is  less  certain  to 
get  there  at  all.  If  she  anticipates  him,  as  is  not  unlikely,  she 
reaches  the  point  by  a  happy  guess  or  divination,  if  she  clearly 
apprehends  it  as  absolutely  true.  Now  there  is  precious  little 
truth  in  all  this. 

Ladies,  intelligent  by  reading,  observation  and  experience, 
have  seldom  tite  training,  in  the  statement  and  elaboration  of 
their  processes  of  thought,  of  highly  educated  men. 

But  in  this  they  do  not  materially  differ  from  sagacious, 
practical  men.  It  was  not  a  woman,  it  was  Andrew  Jackson, 
that  said  to  a  friend,  "  I  always  knew  I  was  right,  but  till  you 
explained  it,  I  could  never  see  how."  It  was  not  to  a  woman, 
but  to  a  strong-minded  English  squire,  that  Lord  Mansfield 
said,  appointing  him  to  a  magistracy,  "  Pronounce  your  opinion 
with  confidence,  it  will  most  probably  be  right ;  forbear  its 
development  and  vindication,  which  will  almost  certainly  be 
wrong."  If  there  is  any  essential  difference  in  the  reasoning 
powers  of  the  sexes,  if  with  equal  discipline  they  do  not  reason 


208  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

and  elaborate  reason  with  nearly  ccjiial  patience,  dexterity  and 
success,  I  have  not  made  the  discovery.  The  slight  diversities 
in  the  operations  of  their  respective  faculties  render  it  more 
difficult  to  apj)ly  a  common  measure,  and  decide  upon  their 
equality  or  equivalence.  Thus  much  may,  I  think,  very  safely 
be  said.  It  is  too  early  to  affirm  very  confidently,  that  there 
never  will  be  a  female  Bacon,  till  there  has  been,  and  been  for 
some  considerable  time,  a  female  Oxford. 

Woman  has  achieved  great  success  in  almost  every  walk  of 
genius.  The  first  great  lyric  that  history  records,  was  the 
improvisation  on  the  banks  of  the  Red  Sea,  of  stern,  high- 
souled  Miriam — honored  name  afterwards,  softened  and 
sweetened  into  loved  and  blessed  memory.  And  Sappho, 
desperate  from  unrequited  love,  ending  a  sad  life  at  the 
"  Lovers  Leap "  in  Epirus.  She  was,  with  the  enthusiastic 
Greeks,  the  first  muse.  A  great  Poet  pronounced  her  more 
golden  than  gold.  About  forty  lines  left  here,  {fre  assigned  to 
the  brightest  page  in  the  Onthologies. 

For  eloquence,  most  strictly,  woman  has  had  no  sphere. 
Though  the  daughter  of  Hortensius,  pronounced  before 
Tyrannicus  an  oration,  which  Quinctilian  says,  "  was  long 
read,  and  not  read  as  a  compliment  to  the  sex."  The  mother 
of  the  Gracchi  asserted  for  women,  that  superiority  in  letter- 
writing,  which  she  has  ever  maintained  ;  and  she  contributed 
much  to  the  eloquence  of  her  sons.  And  a  similar  account 
might  be  given  of  much  missing  female  oratory. 

Woman,  in  generous  self-oblivion,  has  ever  been  con- 
tributing much  to  the  eloquence  of  her  sons.     In  statesman- 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  209 

ship,  a  woman  is  nothing,  unless  she  is  a  queen ;  and  there 
have  been  truly  great  queens.  To  say  nothing  of  Semiramie 
and  others,  about  whom  there  may  be,  I  know  not  how  much 
of  the  fabulous.  Think  of  that  unlettered  peasant  girl,  after- 
wards Catharine  of  Kussia,  who  greatly  helped  in  the  con- 
ception, development  and  the  criticism  of  the  schemes  of  the 
Czar,  and  long  survived  him  for  their  successful  execution. 

Think  of  that  great  queen  who  sat  on  the  British  throne  at 
the  meridian  of  British  enterprise  and  literature.  It  has  been 
thought  one  of  the  highest  gifts  of  a  Washington  and  a 
Jackson,  that  they  knew  how  to  form  and  how  to  rule  a 
Cabinet.  Who  has  more  skilfully  constructed,  or  more 
sovereignly  controlled  a  Cabinet  than  Elizabeth,  I  may  not 
pause,  to  select  a  few  from  the  roll  of  female  names  that  have 
shone  with  conspicuous  brightness,  not  in  the  lighter  litera- 
ture only,  but  in  those  more  exacting  walks  of  science.  It 
may  suffice  to  say  that  the  time  has  gone  by,  when  on  the 
appearance  of  some  great  work  produced  by  a  lady,  the 
remark  was  made,  "  She  writes  very  well  for  a  woman." 

But  whatever  the  diversity  of  gifts  and  aptitudes,  there  may 
be  in  the  sexes,  you  need  never  fear  educating  any  true 
womankind  by  giving  the  girl,  the  very  same  education  in 
extent  and  vigor,  which  you  give  to  the  boy.  Not  more 
surely  will  she  appropriate  the  same  atmosphere,  the  same 
water,  and  the  same  food  in  the  structure  of  her  own  beautiful 
form,  than  she  will  assimilate  her  spiritual  element  in  har- 
mony and  into  harmony  with  her  feminine  nature.  The  little 
girl  will  be  guarded  and  cautioned  with  a  sedulous,  sometimes 


210  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  l)l>.  LLD. 

witli  a  too  sedulous  care  against  tom-boyisiii.  And  as  she 
grows  up  into  society,  her  tastes,  her  interests,  her  whole 
nature,  are  a  constant  and  generally  sufficient  protest  against 
the  simulation — it  could  be  but  the  simulation  of  a  masculine 
coarseness.  But  by  all  means  let  us  avoid  the  starving  of 
the  female  mind  into  a  feeble  and  sickly  beauty.  Health  is 
not  the  cause,  but  the  condition  of  the  highest  beauty 
(changed  the  final  word).  This  is  all  I  deem  it  fit  to  say  on 
tlie  matter  of  sex  in  education  (Interposed  1st,  my  experience 
in  teaching;  2d,  female .) 

What  is  education  ? — I  exclude  the  consideration  of  physi- 
cal education — it  is  the  orderly  development  of  the  powers  of 
the  mind  by  presenting  it  to  an  indefinite  extent,  with  the 
systematized  objects  of  thought,  and  fixing  in  it  those  objects 
of  thought.  You  cannot  evoke  power,  without  furnishing 
thought,  you  cannot  exercise  power  without  improving  the 
arrangement  and  increasing  the  extent  of  your  knowledge.  I 
fear  that  certain  definitions  and  descriptions  tend  to  disparage 
the  importance  of  gaining  and  retaining  the  truth.  It  would 
appear  that  everything  is  to  be  evolved  from  within.  This 
view  drawn  wholly  from  the  etymology,  not  from  the  use  of  a 
Latin  word — is  not  even,  with  certainty,  suggested  by  the 
etymology.  A  difference  of  the  inflection  of  the  words  for 
educate  and  educe,  though  it  does  not  necessarily  infer,  yet 
strongly  hints  a  diHerence  of  radical  meaning ;  and  a  very 
respectable  lexicographer  does  not  hesitate  to  assign  to  edu- 
cate, a  distinct  obsolete  root. 

The  two  words  are  sometimes  employed  interchangeably, 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  211 

and  notably,  by  one  author,  not  of  the  highest  rank,  for  the 
rearing  of  the  young ;  but  neither  of  them  for  what  we  call 
education  in  its  highest  sense.  It  was  stated,  not  in  the  form 
of  a  personal  opinion,  but  in  that  of  a  maxim :  "  The 
nurse  educates,  the  j^^daoogue  institutes,  the  master  teaches." 
Perhaps,  however,  those  who  remind  us  of  this  etymology 
mean  only,  that  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  might  happily 
express  the  true  functions  of  education.  Now  I  shall  admit, 
and  even  contend,  that  the  chief  end  of  education,  is  more  to 
develop,  than  to  store  the  mind.  That  it  is  intended  to 
render  the  mind  more  like  a  fountain  of  living  waters,  than  a 
reservoir  ;  made  more  like  an  all-producing  factory,  than  an 
all  containing  warehouse.  Indeed,  there  is  a  sense,  in  which 
those  who  make  least  of  the  discipline  of  powers,  and  insist 
most  on  the  communications  of  facts,  and  fects  as  individuals, 
as  they  can  well  be  conceived,  must  admit,  that  the  powers  of 
the  mind  in  whatever  development  they  have  for  the  time 
reached,  must  alone  be  addressed ;  and  information,  strictly 
speaking,  cannot  be  imparted  at  all.  The  simplest  fact,  the 
signs  of  which  you  present  by  the  living  voice,  must  be  con- 
structed for  itself,  by  the  mind  addressed.  Even  the  li'orary, 
which,  with  sufficient  correctness,  we  term  rich  in  thought,  is 
in  vigorous  language,  rich  only  in  the  symbo]s  of  thought, 
which  cannot  be  decanted,  but  must  be  reproduced  and  inter- 
preted by  each  intellect  for  itself.  The  memory  which  plays 
so  indispensable  a  part  in  the  slightest  and  most  spontaneous 
advance  from  first  principles,  which  cannot  be  forgotten,  and 
constitutes  so  much  of  the  mind  at  rest,  and  scarcely  less  of 


212  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLP. 

the  mind  in  motion,  must  indeed  be  cultivated.  But  tlie 
training  of  the  memory  bears  no  necessary  ratio  to  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  things  committed  to  it.  The  mother- 
goose  melodies,  are  in  themselves  as  valueless,  as  any  that 
can  be  imagined  ;  may  afford  better  training  for  the  young 
memory  than  a  volume  of  equal  bulk,  stored  with  most  valua- 
ble bitter  training  for  the  young  memory ;  than  a  volume  of 
equal  bulk,  stored  with  most  valuable  recipes  for  housekeepers 
and  farmers. 

jNIuch  of  the  discipline  of  the  schools,  is  wisely  adapted  to 
stopping  the  leaks  of  the  memory,  and  to  enlarging  rather 
than  filling  of  its  capacity.  Yet  it  would  be  most  unjust  to 
educators,  to  say  that  their  instructions  are  mere  Avhet-stones 
of  thought  and  memory ;  the  difficult  trifles  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  sharpening  riddles  of  the  puzzlers'  realm  of 
the  newspapers.  Far,  far  from  it.  They  have  among  them 
mapped  the  whole  sphere  of  present  knowledge ;  they  have 
traced  the  lines  of  growth ;  they  are  putting  the  youth  of 
the  country  upon  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  great  roads  into  its 
departments ;  they  are  training  them  to  rapid  and  swift-footed 
movement ;  they  are  preparing  them  for  the  widest  outlook 
over  all,  and  the  minutest  inspection  into  any.  But  we  are 
vexed,  that  their  instructions  are  not  more  directly  available. 
Now,  it  is  hard  to  say,  what  is  the  most  useful^and  available 
form  of  a  large  and  diversified  provision.  I  suspect  that  none 
of  us,  are  inclined  to  complain,  that  all  the  minerals  of  the 
earth  are  not  on  the  surface,  all  the  fertilizers,  in  the  form  of 
products,  and  all  the  products  of  nature  and  of  human  skill, 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  213 

are  uot  in  readiness  for  immediate  use.  Education  gives  us 
fundamental  truths,  the  skill  in  reaching  which,  prepares  for 
their  various  applications :  Compact,  portable,  general  truths, 
each  of  which  can  rally  its  cohorts  of  obedient  followers.  The 
epitome  of  truth  which  it  furnishes,  necessarily  meagre  in 
some  directions,  in  the  aptitudes  which  it  trains,  and  in  the 
readiness  with  which  it  can  be  expanded,  is  of  far  more  value 
in  the  acquisition  and  skilful  use,  than  a  much  larger  amount 
of  miscellaneous  knowledge  gained  with  less  vigorous  and 
systematic  exertions. 

The  mathematics  occupy,  and  justly,  a  high  position  in  the 
general  system  of  education.  The  vitality  of  their  lowest 
branches  has  never  been  questioned ;  their  vitality  is  even 
much  greater  as  a  vigorous  drill,  in  practical  logic ;  available 
wherever  severe  and  systematic  thinking  is  to  be  done,  and 
as  furnishing  the  surest  clue  for  threading  the  labyrinth  of 
nature. 

The  physical  sciences,  like  the  mathematics,  besides  evoking 
a  high  discipline  of  the  faculties,  bestow  invaluable  knowledge, 
by  no  means  magic  in  amount,  and  among  the  most  certain  of 
all  in  kind.  The  very  best  work  of  the  schools,  both  as  a 
discipline  and  an  instruction,  is  in  introducing  mind  to  a  better 
acquaintance  with  itself.  Mind  cannot  be  vigorously  exercised 
in  any  direction  apparently  most  objective,  without  throwing 
important  reflex  light  on  itself.  But  the  best  discipline,  the 
best  knowledge,  is  acquired  when  mind  is  the  direct  object  of 
the  study  of  mind.  Pope  has  said,  with  universal  approval, 
that  the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man.     The  old  oracle 


214  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

fixed  the  very  centre  of  Pope's  circle,  when  it  uttered  the 
brief  apothegm,  "  Know  thyself."  Well,  that  aphorism  is  the 
text  of  true  teachers,  however  seemingly  remote,  his  depart- 
ment, from  the  domain  of  mind.  It  is  especially  the  text 
of  the  metaphysician  and  the  linguist.  And  I  may  add,  that 
the  knowledge  of  mind,  sagacity  in  reading  mind,  is  the 
hi<'hest  degree  of  common  sense.  Yet  how  often  is  it  lameut- 
ingly  or  sneeringly  said,  that  the  educated  man  lacks  common 
sense.  He  may  lack  special  education  in  many  common 
things,  and  in  many  phases  of  human  character,  as  he  will 
lack  many  other  special  trainings.  But,  if  with  all  the 
instructions  of  the  class-room,  all  the  associations  of  the  mese- 
hall,  and  all  the  encounters  of  the  campus  and  debating  so- 
ciety, he  is  really  wanting  in  common  sense,  he  has  carried  to 
college  a  sad  feebleness,  or  a  sad  eccentricity  of  endowment. 
But  the  complaint  is  really  of  a  piece  with  the  derision  of  the 
city  boy's  ignorance  of  many  things  common  in  the  country, 
and  of  the  country  youth's  greenness  and  awkwardness  in 
town.  The  schools  put  the  mind  on  the  analysis  of  itself, 
and  its  own  products ;  the  only  analysis  which  is  not  dissec- 
tion, the  only  decomposition  that  is  not  death,  but  more 
vi^^orous  life.  They  bid  it  study  the  only  agent  which 
can  busily  work  and  leisurely  survey  its  own  work ;  the  only 
one  who  can  patiently  and  profoundly  feel  and  at  the  same 
time  calmly  criticize  and  record  its  own  emotions.  They  send 
it  forth  acquainted  with  its  powers,  the  better  prepared  for  all 
its  explorations,  but  to  find,  save  its  greater  Creator,  greater, 
nobler,  than  itself.     Him  it  finds  everywhere,  but  not  fully 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  215 

witnessed  and  imagined  in  the  organ  of  thought.  The  study 
of  language,  scarcely  inferior  to  mental  science  as  a  revealer 
of  the  general  attributes  of  mind,  is  far  superior  to  that,  and 
to  everything  else,  as  exhibitor  of  the  details  of  mind  itself 
and  the  delicate  and  subtle  processes  of  thought.  Language, 
considered  as  to  its  contents,  is  all  science  and  all  literature, 
except  the  literature,  if  such  it  might  strikingly  be  called, 
that  is  built  into  monuments,  carved  from  marble,  or  cast  in 
bronze,  or  inscribed  on  canvas,  or  evoked  from  tubes  and 
strings.  It  cannot  be  studied  apart  from  all  contents,  and  is 
generally  studied  in  connection  with  one  of  the  most  precious 
of  them.  But  language  itself  is  the  most  precious  product  of 
human  thought,  its  richest  element,  the  indispensable  instru- 
ment of  all  its  highest  achievements,  its  fitting  dress  and  orna- 
ment, the  almost  exclusive  channel  of  its  communication.  It 
is  strong  enough  to  weigh  the  most  weighty  (and  the  most 
heavy)  speculations  of  the  philosopher,  light  enough  for  the 
most  airy  imaginings  of  the  poet,  as  flexible  as  human  caprice, 
as  harsh  as  the  thunders  of  indignation,  as  gentle  as  the  tones 
of  love.  And  what  of  all  human  creatures  can  compare  for 
grandeur  and  beauty  with  the  word-buildings  of  the  most 
admired  of  the  historians,  and  essayists,  and  poets,  and  orators  ? 
Language,  that  suffices  for  all  human  revelation,  is  the  chan- 
nel of  God's  revelation  to  men.  This  is  the  true  Prometheus 
that  has  brought  down  the  true  fire  from  Heaven.  We  are 
not  surprised  that  nominalists  were  betrayed  into  a  sort  of 
idolatry  of  the  human  mind  as  God.  Who  but  feels  the 
value  of  language  as  an  acquisition,  and  who  that  has  paid 


216  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

any  attention  to  the  action  of  liis  own  mind,  l)ut  hi^^lily  values 
the  (lidcipliue  which  the  acquisition  furnishes  and  implies? 

My  limits  preclude  further  reference  to  the  value  of  the 
branches  of  the  commonly  received  systems  of  education.  I 
must  briefly  consider  the  value  of  the  systems  as  a  whole.  A 
practical  view  of  this  value  will  be  gotten  by  comparing  the 
chances  for  success — true  success — in  the  life  of  the  man  who, 
thoroughly  trained  in  this  system,  supplements  it,  of  course, 
by  a  special  school,  an  apprenticeship,  or  an  inmiedinte 
entrance  on  the  practice  of  a  vocation,  and  the  youth  who 
goes  with  little  or  none  of  this  general  drill  to  the  epecial 
school,  the  apprenticeship,  or  the  trade,  or  profession.  It  will 
not  be  denied  that  there  are  educational  influences  outside  of 
the  school,  but  to  all  of  these  the  academically  disciplined  are 
even  more  open  than  to  others.  Business  does  not  educate 
dexterities,  but  evolves  mind  in  all  its  capacities.  But  will  it 
do  the  best  ?  Let  us  make  a  freer  comparison.  Do  not  com- 
pare the  boy  that  goes  w'ith  enthusiasm  into  the  work  of  the 
factory,  the  counting  room,  or  the  farm,  and  the  boy  who, 
feeble  or  perverse  in  mind,  hearing,  a  thousand  times,  that  the 
time  spent  in  school  is,  for  all  practical  purposes,  time  wasted, 
is  dragged  through  a  course  cursing  the  day  of  Caesar's  birth, 
disgusted  with  Euclid,  and  all  the  mathematicians,  nauseating 
all  poetry  and  all  science.  Of  course  the  boy  in  business  will 
get  immeasurably  the  best  training,  mental  and  moral.  Let 
it  be  admitted  that  the  average  youth,  full  of  mental  activity, 
does  not  accept  the  restraints  of  a  business  with  the  highest 
alacrity,  yet,  encouraged  by  its  more  obvious  utilities,  he  will 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  217 

more  heartily  prosecute  the  work  of  the  shop  than  of  the  clas?- 
room.  Oh,  if  the  love  of  science  were  as  easily  developed  as  the 
love  of  gain,  if  the  professor  had  altogether  as  docile  a  pupil 
as  the  merchant,  what  might  not  our  schools  accomplish  ? 

Sometimes,  indeed,  there  will  be  awakened  a  literary  ambi- 
tion, intense  above  all  other  passions.  But  though  the  aver- 
age student  takes  less  kindly  to  his  work  than  the  young 
specialist  or  apprentice,  we  may  well  abide  by  the  results  of  a 
camparison  between  them.  At  first  the  recipient  of  the  prac- 
tical education,  so-called,  has  the  advantage  The  girl  who 
has  been  reared  to  industry  in  the  household,  will  right  off  sur- 
pass her  who  has  passed  three  or  four  years  in  the  seminary,  in 
every  branch  of  housekeeping.  The  young  farmer  of  fifteen 
or  eighteen  will  distance  his  brother,  fresh  from  college,  in  all 
practical  matters,  from  the  harnessing  of  a  buggy  horse  to 
the  pitching  of  a  crop.  The  young  clerk  will  easily  outstrip 
the  young  algebraist  in  adding  a  column,  in  calculating  interest, 
in  stating  an  account.  Many  a  lad,  with  scarcely  one  hun- 
dredth part  of  your  graduate's  knowledge  of  mathematics, 
will  bring  him  to  blush  in  his  first  efforts  in  surveying  and 
civil  engineering.  Only  wait  a  little,  and  the  graduate  will 
manifest  his  decided  superiority.  If  the  business  or  profession 
be  of  any  considerable  extent,  he  will  have  completed  his 
general  education,  his  professional  training  and  gained  practi- 
cal skill  before  his  rival  has  much  less  successfully  accom- 
plished the  two  last.  And  his  knowledge  will  be  more 
comprehensive  and  accurate,  and,  moving  less  in  the  ruts  of 
formula  and  tradition,  he  will  adapt  himself  more  readily  to 


218  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

the  changes  now  occurring  more  rapidly  than  ever,  in  tlie 
business  of  life.  He  will  triumph,  in  the  purely  professional 
contest.  And  he  will  do,  with  less  danger  of  filing  himself 
down,  to  a  narrow  and  sharp  instrument.  His  skill  in  his 
specialty,  will  be  a  necessary  but  small  part  of  a  full  and  sys- 
tematical development,  as  a  citizen  and  man.  AVe  are  not 
imwilling,  to  compare  the  scholastically  educated  man  with 
the  so-called  self-made  men.  We  might  question  the  justice 
of  the  application  of  the  term.  The  man  who  uses  books  and 
professors  to  fashion  himself,  is  as  well  entitled  to  use  names 
as  he  who  forms  himself  by  any  other  means.  Better,  certainly, 
than  he  who  is  drifted  by  the  waves  of  faction  into  some 
especial  prominence,  or  than  he  who  is  moved  by  social  cur- 
rents and  ground  like  a  river  rock  into  shape  by  social  col- 
lisions. But  there  are  many  truly  great  men,  who  are  nothing 
to  the  colleges.  And  America  is  the  paradise  of  such  self- 
made  men  ;  with  its  atmosphere  exciting  universal  aspiration, 
its  institutions  offering  impartially  unrestricted  opportunities, 
its  primary  schools,  its  pulpit,  its  bar,  its  hustings,  its  newspa- 
pers, its  travel,  all  kindling  and  cultivating  mind. 

Now,  much  the  larger  amount  of  original  talent  must  be 
receiving  the  extra  academic  discipline.  Almost  all  the  trea- 
sures of  human  wisdom  are  accessible  to  the  self-taught  in 
English;  I  may  not  say  plain  English,  for  our  half- Latin 
language  is  not  specially  plain.  Is  it  not  a  convincing  evi- 
dence of  the  superiority  of  the  college  discipline,  that  so  much 
larc^er  a  proportion  of  the  collegially  trained,  have  successfully 
appropriated  and  utilized  these  treasures.     Make  the  most  of 


femal£  education.  219 

the  number  of  wrecked  and  sunken  collegians.  Survey  for  a 
moment,  it  can  be  but  for  a  moment,  the  multitudinous  habits 
of  the  self-making.  Then  count,  for  you  can  count  the  rare 
few  of  the  self-made  whose  heads  are  still  above  the  Avaters  of 
oblivion.  And  when  you  find  the  really  great  self-made  man, 
does  he  so  tower,  as  it  is  sometimes  claimed,  above  all  rivalry  ? 
Political  life,  is  the  most  favorable  arena  of  the  self-made  man. 
Here  he  has  some  advantages.  He  is  the  recognized  leader, 
or  rather,  representative  of  the  masses.  He  is  what  so  many 
men  would  have  been  if  only  fortune  had  smiled.  AVhile  it 
cost  almost  any  body  an  effort  of  reflection,  to  repress  a  feeling 
of  contempt  for  the  simply  average  college-bred  senator; 
so  many  would  have  outstripped  him,  if  they  had  had  his 
opportunities.  But  getting  more  easily  into  positions  of  trust, 
does  he  fill  them  more  to  his  country's  good  and  his  own 
honor?  In  ordinary  times  where  statesmanship  is  more  a 
routine,  he  is  less  acquainted  with  precedent,  and  more  a  slave 
of  what  he  does  know.  In  times  of  revelation  and  new 
departures,  this  original  man  is  less  original,  and  less  a  master 
of  the  situation.  It  is  then  that  the  regularly  educated,  the 
Jeffersons  and  the  Madisons,  compare  most  favorably  with  the 
most  favorable  specimens  of  the  self-made — the  Shermans  and 
the  Franklins.  As  our  industrial,  professional  and  political 
life,  becomes  more  and  more  highly  organized,  highly  educated 
mind  is  coming  more  and  more  to  the  point. 

Education  mainly  develops  powers,  and  trains  to  their 
facile  employment ;  so  far  as  it  communicates  truths  they  are 
truths  of  wide  generality.     If  the  acquisitions  of  the  schools 


220  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DP.  LLP. 

barely  lived  in  the  iiiind,  till  it  t(K)k  hold  on  the  practical 
employments  of  life  ;  after  five  years  of  commercial,  agricul- 
tural or  professional  life,  nothing  remained  but  the  vigor  once 
acquired,  and  most  applied  to  different  objects,  and  the  better 
facilities  for  interpreting  other  minds,  living  and  departed, 
the  education  they  impart  would  be  of  very  great  value.  It 
is  to  be  feared,  that  many  quite  well  educated  men  content 
themselves  with  this  simple  benefit.  Men  of  great  powers 
immersed  in  business,  suffer  even  their  professional  knowledge 
to  lose  its  roundness  and  philosojihic  arrangement,  and  keep 
themselves  bright  in  the  facts  and  doctrines  of  which  they 
have  f.  equent  need.  The  scholar  finds  it  at  first,  less  easy  than 
when  he  left  school,  to  read  his  Horace ;  after  a  while,  too 
great  a  labor,  to  make  the  reading  other  than  an  irksome 
task,  and  at  last  an  impossibility,  without  the  renewal  of 
elementary  training  for  which  he  has  no  patience,  and  con- 
ceives he  has  no  time.  Tliis  ought  not  to  be.  One's  education, 
strictly  so-called,  ought  ever  to  abide  fi»r  the  needful  renewal 
and  completion  of  his  youthful  drill.  The  educated  man  can 
no  more  safely,  make  the  erai^loymcnts  of  his  vocation,  or  a 
miscellaneous  reading,  a  substitute  for  his  old  curriculum, 
than  the  soldier  can  substitute  the  battle,  or  the  duties  of  the 
encampment  and  the  sentry — fi)r  the  manual  of  the  cadet  and 
the  camp  of  instruction. 

This  course  renewed  frequently,  returned  to,  does  more  fully 
fur  the  mind,  what  the  Grecian  Gymnasium  and  fine  games 
did  for  the  body,  than  anything  else.  I  believe  that  it  is  an 
evidence  of  increasing  success  in  our  current  education,  that 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  221 

the  graduates  of  the  period  return  with  increasing  ease  and 
relish  to  their  earlier  studies ;  and  especially  to  the  classics. 
As  more  time  is  given  for  the  vocabulary  to  imbed  themselves 
in  the  memories,  and  to  be  as  permanent  there  as  the  forms 
and  the  philosophy  of  the  languages — the  return  will  be  more 
pleasant  and  profitable. 

What  we  have  once  thoroughly  learned,  if  not  too  long 
neglected,  we  rapidly  renew,  easily  retain  or  easily  recover. 
The  second  reaping  will  be  scarcely  less  developing  labor  than 
the  first,  and  the  aftermath  will  often  be  the  best  crop. 
Something  very  like  an  ideal  of  what  a  scholar  should  have 
in  view,  in  the  preservation  and  extension  of  his  academic 
life,  is  exhibited  in  the  person  of  Lord  Macaulay.  After  he 
had  long  held  rank  among  the  ablest  debaters  and  the  most 
brilliant  orators  of  the  British  House  of  Commons  ;  after  he 
had  achieved  a  position  above  all  rivalry,  in  the  foremost 
literary  review  of  the  world  ;  after  he  had  digested  the  chaos 
of  Anglo-Hindoo  law  into  a  code,  which  in  other  merits,  and 
specially  in  luminousness  of  method  and  precision  of  state- 
ment, is  said  to  compare  favorably  with  the  code  of  Livingston 
or  the  code  of  Napoleon ;  whilst  oppressed  with  the  govern- 
ment of  100,000,000  of  India,  and  under  the  enervating 
influence  of  that  climate  ;  he  seizes  as  a  period  of  only  com- 
parative leisure,  and  reads  from  cover  to  cover.  Homer, 
Herodotus,  Xenophon,  Plato,  Thucydides,  all  the  extant 
Greek  poets;  the  voluminous  writings  of  Cicero,  and  all 
of  chief  excellence  in  Roman  literature ;  much  of  this  he  reads 
again  and  again.     He  jots  down  his  impressions  at  each  read- 


222  LIFK  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ing — pronounces  his  matured  judgments,  always  original  and 
independent,  generally  brilliant,  though  not  so  studiously 
splendid  in  his  finished  composition.  Of  what  incalculable 
value  was  an  education  that  made  such  review  possible,  and  how 
must  the  review  itself  have  repaired,  polished  and  tightened 
up  all  the  machinery  of  this  mighty  mind.  Compare  the 
course  of  the  same  man,  in  another  branch  of  study.  He 
early  took  up,  and  cultivated  a  disgust  for  mathematics ;  he 
■would  write  to  his  mother  sprightly  invectives  against  a  study 
that  would  dry  up  his  imagination  and  convert  his  mind  into 
an  algebraic  formula. 

Of  course,  at  Cambridge,  he  must  have  learned  a  good  deal 
of  mathematics,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  disciplining  on  his 
mind.  But  he  failed  of  the  highest  honors  of  Cambridge,  to 
the  deep  wounding  of  his  noble  and  affectionate  father,  who 
felt  that  the  failure  was  solely  due  to  a  foolish  whim.  lu 
middle  life,  Macaulay  reverts  to  the  matter.  "  I  would  not," 
said  he,  "  turn  upon  my  heel  for  the  honor  of  being  senior 
•wrangler,  but  I  would  give  a  great  deal  for  some  of  the 
mental  habits  which  the  gaining  of  the  honor  would  have 
established."  Why  did  he  not  go  back  to  mathematics  and 
get  these  habits? 

Why  do  we  not  all  do  the  things  which  we  know  we  ought 
to  do,  but  which  would  now  require  a  great  labor,  and  which 
■we  have  contracted  a  habit  of  neglecting  and  disliking  ?  The 
relations  between  education  and  religion  are  very  intimate, 
more  so  than  that  between  education  and  any  other  great 
practical  interest.     If  we  were  a  mercantile  association,  or  a 


FEMALE   EDUCATION.  22?> 

state  grange  of  farmers,  we  should  feel  that  general  education 
concerned  us,  but  concerned  us  in  common  with  all  others, 
and  we  might  well  be  content  to  avail  ourselves  of  such  edu- 
cation as  society  in  general  should  patronize.  But  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  denominations  we  feel  that  education  in  all 
its  grades  has  much  more  intimate  connections  with  Christi- 
anity. 

If  Christianity  is  true,  scarcely  more  for  its  own  sake  than 
for  the  sake  of  sound  culture  itself,  it  should  seek  to  promote 
the  most  harmonious  relations  with  education.  And  certainly 
it  can  be  most  sure  of  this  harmony,  when  it  is  most  directly 
the  patron  of  the  schools. 

It  is  the  higher  education,  however,  that  most  notably 
affects  religion.  No  difficulty  emerges  in  Theology,  which  is 
not  found  converged  in  philosophy. 

The  deep  soundings  of  science,  bring  it  into  the  plane  of 
theology,  whether  its  altitude  there,  shall  be  one  of  deferential 
co-operation,  or  of  hostility  of  supreme  importance.  It  is  the 
younger  sciences  especially  that,  like  some  young  barbarians 
we  have  heard,  vindicate  their  claims  to  manhood  by  vehe- 
ment, if  not  vigorous,  bloAvs  at  the  bosom  which  nourished 
them.  Though  it  is  at  least  a  presumption  for  the  truth  of 
the  Bible,  that  it  has  avoided  the  committal  of  itself  to  any 
scientific  dogmas,  j^et  it  is  of  consequence  that  the  teachers 
of  science  be  heartily  loyal  to  revelation.  Geology  in  hostile 
hands  will  deride  it  as  of  yesterday  in  comparison  with  her 
own  vast  eras  ;  and  Astronomy,  from  the  perch  of  her  dizzying 
dimensions,  will  laugh  at  the  littleness  of  its  theatre.     Espe- 


224  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

cially  will  an  irreverent  and  destructive  criticism  of  historical 
myths,  aim  to  involve  Christianity  and  all  the  monuments  of 
antiquity,  in  one  indiscrimin:;te  ruin.  But  apart  fruui  all 
polemical  reason,  Christianity  has  a  higher  interest  than  any 
other  institution,  in  the  classical  languages,  the  very  centre  and 
support  of  our  present  truly  liberal  system  of  education.  I 
think  it  will  be  admitted,  that  if  the  spirit  of  modernism  and 
intense  practicalism  breaks  down  classical  instruction,  the  sys- 
tem Avill  fly  to  pieces,  and  we  shall  have  its  scattered  fragments 
in  the  form  first  of  polytechnic  schools  and  the  arts,  lastly  of 
apprenticeships  and  trades.  Who,  is  so  concerned  as  Hamil- 
ton has  well  suggested  in  these  languages. 

Suppose  that  the  substance  of  past  literature  can  be  decanted 
into  translations,  who  so  concerned  as  the  church  in  versions 
of  the  highest  accuracy  and  in  the  means  of  increasing  indefi- 
nitely their  accuracy. 

Look  at  the  present  attitude  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, and  much  of  the  learning  of  the  Church  of  England, 
invoking  the  scholarship  of  all  denominations  in  England  and 
America,  to  assist  in  improving  the  version  of  one  single 
ancient  volume.  Who  but  Christians  could,  or  would,  or 
should  spend  so  much  time  and  money,  in  such  an  enterprise? 
Will  they  finish  it?  Will  they  consent  to  destroy  the  means 
of  its  vindication,  its  preservation,  its  indefinite  improvement? 
Never.  Christian  scholars  will  ever  be  laboring  to  bring 
themselves,  and  as  far  as  possible,  all  others  to  the  nearest 
earshot. 


FEMALE  EDUCATION.  22.' 


An  extract  from  an  address  of  Dr.  Brown,  on 
Female  Schools,  made  at  Warrenton,  Va.: 

*  *  *  It  is  now  high  time  to  help  those  dear  women  and 
those  friends  of  women  that  have  been  so  h)ng  and  so  gloriously 
struggling,  without  material  aid,  in  the  cause  of  female  educa- 
tion. Is  it  not  a  marvel  that,  while  no  male  college  is  attempted 
to  be  run  without  buildings  presented  gratuitously,  and  without 
endowment,  there  is  scarcely  a  female  school  in  Virginia  which 
does  not  pay  rent  for  its  buildings,  and  not  one  which  has  a 
dollar  of  endowment?  The  success  of  the  female  schools  has 
been  little  short  of  a  prodigy  of  financial  skill.  The  liberal 
and  patriotic  spirit  which  has  characterized  the  management 
of  these  schools  has  been  more  commendable,  and  equally 
wonderful.  It  is  no  secret  that  tlie  literary  department  of 
every  female  school  was  formerly  (indeed,  to  a  considerable 
degree  is  yet)  dependent  for  support  on  the  ornamental  de- 
partment. Yet  the  managers  of  these  schools  have  been 
regularly,  at  a  risk  and  a  sacrifice,  changing  the  relative 
prominence  of  these  two  departments,  till  the  solidity  of  female 
education  compares  favorably  with  any  tuition  dispensed  in 
the  State.  All  honor  to  the  men  and  the  women,  of  all  de- 
nominations, who  have  brought  about  this  result.  To  the  men 
of  my  own  denomination  who  have  grandly  labored  in  this 
cause  for  the  last  thirty  years,  I  am  bound  by  peculiar  ties. 
I  have  been  the  pastor  and  co-laborer  of  Cocke  and  of  Hart. 
I   have  been    the  pastor   of  Averett,  Peuick,  Vaughan  and 


'22G  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.LLD. 

Lake.  If  I  have  been  committed  to  impartiality,  it  is  not  the 
impartiality  of  indifference,  but  the  impartiality  of  anxious 
and  sorrowing  affection.  There  has  been  no  unmanly  or 
unchristian  strife  among  them,  fur  they  are  brethren ;  but 
there  is  a  struggle  for  existence.  And  I  must  stand  aloof  with 
melancholy  resignation  to  the  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  which — being  interpreted  according  to  true  Darwinian- 
ism — is  the  strongest. 

There  is  one  manager  of  female  schools  in  Virginia  who 
lies  out  of  this  circle  of  neutrality,  and  of  whom  I  may  speak 
in  terms  of  highest  praise  without  danger  of  exaggeration. 
I  mean  Miss  Sallie  B.  Hamner,  of  the  Richmond  Female 
Institute.  A  born  ruler,  a  skilful  financier,  a  consummate 
organizer,  a  thorough  scholar,  an  accurate  and  enthusiastic 
teacher,  a  model  of  grace  and  majestic  beauty,  she  has  sum- 
moned to  her  aid  the  unrivalled  teaching  ability  of  Prof. 
Winston  and  a  corps  of  accomplished  and  experienced  lady 
assistants.  It  is  well  for  her  that  there  is  now  no  interdict  on 
the  tree  of  knowledge ;  else  she  might  justly  fear  the  fate 
which  Pope  apprehended  for  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague : 

"  If  our  first  mother  Eve  great  pain  ilid  receive, 
Wlieu  only  one  apple  ate  she, 
Wliat  punisliment  new  shall  be  found  out  for  you, 
That  in  tasting  have  robbed  the  whole  tree  ?  " 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  227 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  COLLEGE   PROFESSOR. 

TN  the  reorganization  of  Richmond  College,  at 
■^  the  close  of  the  war,  the  old  curriculum  w^as 
abandoned ;  and  in  its  stead  the  sj^stem  of  inde- 
pendent schools  was  adopted.  Owing  to  the  w^^eck 
of  its  endowment,  the  college  resumed  work  wdth 
only  five  professors.  But  in  1867,  Dr.  J.  L.  M. 
Curry,  who  at  the  time  of  this  writing  is  U.  S.  Minis- 
ter to  the  court  of  Spain,  was  added  to  the  faculty, 
as  Professor  of  English  and  Philosophy.  This 
position  of  double  service  Dr.  Curry  filled  wdth 
distinction,  until  January,  1881,  when  he  resigned 
to  become  superintendent  of  the  Peabody  fund.  His 
retirement  was  regarded  as  a  grievous  loss  to  the 
college,  and  great  anxiety  was  felt  by  its  friends 
that  satisfactory  arrangements  should  be  made  for 
supplying  the  vacancy.  The  matter  w^as  placed 
by  the  trustees  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  whose 
report  was  not  presented  until  the  annual  meeting 
in  the  following  June. 

The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was,  that 
separate  chairs  of  English  and  Philosophy  should  be 


228  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

establiislied;  and  that  a  professor  sliould  be  elected 
for  each.  This  suggestion  of  the  committee  not 
only  commanded  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the 
trustees,  but  found  a  warm  sanction  at  the  hands 
of  the  friends  of  the  college  all  over  Virginia.  For 
the  chair  of  Philosophy,  Rev.  AVm.  D.  Thomas,  D.D., 
a  distinguished  alumnus  of  the  college,  and  of  the 
University  of  Virginia  also,  was  with  great  enthu- 
siasm chosen.  The  names  of  several  gentlemen 
of  ripest  culture,  and  highest  renow^n  as  teachers, 
were  presented  to  the  Board  as  peculiarly  fitted  to 
fill  the  chair  of  English.  It  so  chanced  that  on 
the  night  preceding  the  election,  that  Dr.  A.  B. 
Brown  appeared  in  the  commencement  exercises 
of  Richmond  College  as  the  final  orator  of  the 
two  Literary  Societies. 

It  was  known,  how^ever,  that  he  w^ould  speak 
under  disadvantages,  having  been  called  upon  but 
a  little  while  before  to  take  the  place  of  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  orators  of  the  country.  To 
some  of  the  trustees  Dr.  Brown  was  so  well  known 
that  he  needed  no  introduction;  but  there  were 
others  who  had  never  heard  nor  seen  him.  Per- 
haps the  w^alls  of  the  college  never  echoed  more 
thrilling  notes  of  eloquence,  than  rolled  from  his 
lips  that  night.  His  address  was  chaste,  compact, 
discriminating,  profound,  and  glow^ed  with  a  fiery 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  229 

passion  which  lifted  the  crowd  into  the  wildest 
enthusiasm.  It  marked  him  not  only  as  an  orator, 
but  as  an  accurate  and  well  rounded  scholar. 
Even  his  admirers  felt,  that  he  had  never  done  so 
well  before.  There  had  been  some  of  the  trustees 
who,  from  the  time  of  Dr.  Curry's  resignation,  felt 
that  Dr.  Brown  above  all  men  ought  to  have  a 
place  in  the  teaching  corps  of  Richmond  College, 
and  were  anxious  to  have  him  invited  to  the  chair 
of  English.  But  they  had  hesitated  to  present 
his  name,  lest  others  might  not  be  prepared  to 
appreciate  his  worth. 

After  his  magnificent  oration,  they  ventured  to 
bring  his  name  before  the  Board  in  honorable  com- 
petition wath  others  of  the  highest  character.  The 
result  was  his  election — a  result  which  surprised 
no  one  so  thoroughly  as  himself.  He  was  no 
applicant,  and  had  not  even  received  a  hint  that 
his  name  would  be  mentioned  for  the  place.  The 
new^s  of  his  election  was  electric.  Trustees  and 
other  friends  of  the  college  were  exultant.  No 
man  rejoiced  over  the  event  more  than  did  Dr. 
Curry,  who  expressed  the  feeling  that  it  was  an 
honor  to  him  to  be  succeeded  in  his  work  by  such 
a  noble  Christian  scholar.  It  so  chanced  that  Dr. 
Brown  was  engaged  to  dine  that  day,  with  others, 
wdth  Dr.  Curry;  but  as  the  news  of  his  election 


230  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

went  forth,  gentlemen  made  haste  to  call  upon 
him  to  express  their  satisfaction  and  urge  him 
to  accept  the  i:)osition.  To  his  surprise,  he  found 
himself  the  lion  of  the  day,  and  blushed  at  the  out- 
l)urst  of  enthusiasm  of  which  he  was  the  subject. 

A  homely  incident  which  occurred  at  the  time, 
will  illustrate  the  popular  delight  wdiich  w^as 
excited  by  Dr.  Brown's  election. 

One  of  Dr.  Brown's  old  pupils,  the  wife  of  a 
trustee  of  the  college,  and  a  resident  of  Richmond, 
was  an  ardent  champion  of  her  old  teacher.  She 
never  grew  weary  of  telling  how  he  taught  her 
Sir  Wm.  Hamilton's  metaphysics,  or  of  urging  that 
the  Baptists  of  Virginia,  ought  in  some  w^ay,  to 
utilize  his  great  scholarship.  His  name  was  a 
houseliold  word,  and  even  the  children  had  come 
to  think  that  Dr.  Brown  was  the  mightiest  scholar 
of  the  day.  She  had  a  boy,  a  little  up  in  his 
teens,  who  Avas  just  ending  his  first  session  at 
college.  This  youth  drove  the  carriage  to  the 
Second  Baptist  Church,  to  take  his  trustee  father, 
with  invited  friends,  to  dinner.  He  slipped  into 
the  room,  to  notify  his  father  that  the  carriage 
was  waiting  for  him,  as  it  happened,  just  at  the 
time  the  election  of  Dr.  Brown  was  announced. 
He  vanished  like  a  ghost,  forgetful  of  the  message 
and    the   carriage,   double-quicked   home,   sprang 


THE   COLLEGE   PROFESSOR.  231 

into  the  door,  threw  the  house  mto  consterna- 
tion, by  the  wildest  shouts — and  when  called  to 
account,  informed  his  mother  of  the  good  news. 
It  has  been  said,  that  the  announcement,  while  it 
quieted  the  boy,  came  near  to  turning  the  mother 
to  demonstrations  equally  vehement,  if  not  so 
noisy.  This  spirit  of  rejoicing  went  afar.  The 
Baptist  ministers,  and  the  old  pupils  of  Dr.  Brown, 
the  two  classes  that  knew  him  best,  were  greatly 
rejoiced.  But  after  all,  perhaps  none  hailed  the 
event,  with  such  profound  satisfaction  as  the 
members  of  the  College  Faculty. 

I  have  dwelt  more  at  length  upon  this  seemingly 
insignificant  incident  of  his  election,  than  may 
seem  to  the  reader  necessary.  It  has  been  done 
to  show,  that  there  was  a  conviction  wide-spread, 
and  deep  among  the  people,  that  Dr.  Brown 
ought  to  be  chosen  to  some  position  worthy  of 
his  imperial  gifts,  and  his  enriched  culture. 

Dr.  Brown  was  not,  in  any  technical  sense, 
speciall}^  adapted  to  the  teaching  of  English.  He 
could  have  taught  (and  this  is  not  thoughtlessly 
said)  any  other  branch  in  tlie  college  equally  well, 
and  some  of  them  he  could  have  taught  more 
easily,  because,  they  lay  along  the  favorite  ranges 
of  his  life-long  thought.  This  is  j)articularly  true 
of  mathematics  and  philosophy.     Some  superficial 


232  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

critics  hinted,  that  Dr.  Brown's  introduction  into 
the  faculty,  might  become  a  source  of  disharmony. 
It  was  known   that  a   score  of  years  before,  on 
one  or  more  occasions,  his  temper  had  gotten  the 
better  of  him,  a  thing  which  some  people  could 
never  forget.     How  little  they  knew  the  man ! 
How  little  the}^  had    dreamed   of  the  complete 
conquest  which  he  had  long  ago  made  over  his 
natural   infirmity.      How  little   they   understood 
that  reigning  courtesy  of  his  nature — that  sweet 
compound  of  strong  self-respect,  personal  purity, 
love  for  men,  and  yet,  richer  love  for  God.     He 
could   never   have  caused   strife   anywhere.     He 
carried  in   himself,  a  modesty  which  forbade  his 
trampling  upon  others,  and  a  gentle  dignity  which 
w^ould  have  disarmed  almost  any  form  of  hostility. 
In  the  gentlemen  composing  the  Faculty  of  lUcli- 
mond  College  he  found  a  congenial  brotherhood, 
and  when  he  sat  down  at  their  Board,  they  took 
him  to  their  hearts.     He  entered    at  once  into 
their  plans,  and  became  a  cordial  co-worker  with 
them,  in  their  labors  for  the  college.    In  his  nature 
he  was  conservative  and  conciliator}^      He  was 
}io  champion  for  innovations;   what  his  brethren 
advocated,  he  was  always  disposed,  so  far  as  he 
could,  to  promote.     In  a  little  while,  and  by  no 
effort  of  his  own,  he  rose  to  the  highest  seat  of 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  233 

honor  among  them.  They  were  proud  to  hail  him 
as  the  greatest  of  them  all — not  only  in  purity 
and  scholarly  power,  but  in  the  ineffable  gentle- 
ness of  his  spirit.  They  saw  in  him  a  man,  not 
only  wondrously  endowed,  and  amazingly  rich  in 
attainments,  but  yet  more  wondrously  meek,  self- 
forgetful  and  Chris1>like.  The  tributes  from  his 
fellows,  which  will  appear  hereafter,  will  readily 
show  what  the  Faculty  of  Richmond  College 
thought  of  Dr.  A.  B.  Brown. 

But  the  class-room  was  his  happiest  realm. 
From  the  first  morning  that  he  stood  before  his 
classes  and  spoke  to  them  his  words  of  greeting, 
he  was  the  master  of  his  pupils'  hearts.  Perhaps 
the  first  sight  of  his  thin  face,  his  weird  form,  and 
his  somewhat  faltering  and  awkward  step,  may 
have  brought  a  smile  to  the  boyish  faces  of  his 
audience.  But  the  kindly  flash  of  his  eye,  the 
magnetic  ring  of  his  voice,  the  manliness  of  his 
words,  and  the  warm,  fresh  strength  of  his  thought, 
showed  him  at  once  a  man,  whom  they  could  love, 
and  must  respect.  In  the  matter  of  discipline,  in 
his  classes,  he  had  little  trouble.  Now  and  then, 
a  stolid  and  prankish  fellow,  blind  to  the  stuff  of 
which  Dr.  Brown  was  made,  would  venture  to  be 
impertinent.  He  rarely  repeated  the  experiment. 
The  indignant  teacher  transfixed  him  with  a  look, 


234  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

and  scourged  him  into  shame,  with  the  little  finger 
of  his  power.  lie  never  fretted,  or  higgled,  with 
a  noisy  or  unmannered  boy;  he  simjoly  squelched 
him  by  a  touch  of  honest  rebuke. 

But  these  cases  were  rare,  indeed.  In  his  classes 
he  met  young  men,  who  could  not  fail  to  respect 
a  noble  character.  They  loved  him  for  wdiat  he 
was,  and  heard  him  for  Avhat  he  said.  He  had  an 
easy  task  in  winning  the  attention  of  his  classes. 
He  w^as  very  genial  and  accessible.  He  often 
regaled  the  boys  with  humorous  incidents,  and 
3^et  oftener  with  the  hapj^y  flashes  of  his  owai 
charming  wit.  He  drew  the  boys  to  him  by  the 
delicate  courtesy  and  ready  kindness  with  which 
he  treated  them.  If  they  had  troubles,  they 
knew  that  he  would  give  them  sympathy.  If 
they  touched  off  a  little  cracker  of  wit,  he  was 
always  ready  to  respond.  Betw^een  him  and  the 
students  there  speedily  grew  up  a  good  fellow^ship. 
He  always  spoke  of  them  with  fondest  pride — 
and  they  always  had  the  finest  things  to  tell  about 
him.  His  inlluence,  therefore,  in  the  college  was 
healthful  and  elevating.  He  talked  to  the  boys 
on  noble  themes,  and  stimulated  them  to  better 
thinking. 

But,  after  all,  his    strength  was  as  a  teacher. 
He  knew  how  to  teach,  and  magnified  his  office  by 


THE   COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  235 

the  love  of  it.  He  was  the  master  of  his  work, 
and  made  it  attractive.  He  knew  how  to  impart 
knowledge,  and  he  knew  better  how  to  evoke  the 
knowledge  of  his  students.  He  drew  the  students 
out,  giving  them  confidence,  by  his  sympathy,  to 
tell  what  they  knew. 

He  was  ardently  devoted  to  his  professional 
work.  He  was  engaged,  year  by  year,  in  such 
collateral  studies  as  would  help  him  to  broaden 
and  improve  his  course — and  for  each  recitation, 
he  prepared  himself  with  an  ever  fresh  assiduity. 

Mr.  M.  S.  Wood,  one  of  the  ministerial  students, 
who  was  a  member  of  his  class  and  in  whom  he 
was  much  interested,  says  of  him  : 

"  No  one  rejoiced  more  than  I  did  in  the  election 
of  Dr.  Brown  as  a  professor.  He  had  been  a  visitor 
at  my  father's  home  when  I  was  a  mere  boy,  and 
I  well  remembered  the  impression  he  made  on  me 
then,  by  the  freshness  and  vividness  with  which 
he  clothed  an  anecdote,  and  by  the  fluency  of  his 
conversation. 

"  Those  who  did  not  know  him  before  his  com- 
ing, soon  learned  to  feel  for  him  the  affection  of  a 
friend,  and  to  regard  him  as  the  prince  of  teachers. 

"  To  help  others  seemed  to  be  his  great  aim. 
He   never  seemed   happier   than  when    assisting 


236  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

some  one  to  master  a  difficult  task.  If  a  question 
asked  by  a  student  was  so  unimportant  and  easily 
answ^ered  that  it  would  evoke  the  smiles  of  the 
class,  Dr.  Brown  alwaj's  answered  courteously  and 
kindly.  But  if  a  student — as  they  sometimes 
will — asked  worthless  and  irrelevant  questions, 
with  the  evident  purpose  of  w^asting  the  time  of 
the  professor,  no  one  could  more  successfully  floor 
him,  leaving  him  with  closed  lips  to  lament  his 
folly,  than  Dr.  Brown.  He  also  won  a  large  place 
in  the  hearts  of  the  students  by  his  patient  hearing 
of,  and  kindly  sympathy  with,  any  trouble  or 
perplexity  they  might  bring  to  him.  If  he  could 
not  remove  the  trouble,  he  would  so  tenderly 
sympathize,  that  the  student  always  felt  great 
relief.  As  a  counselor  he  was  exceptionally  wise 
and  faithful,  having  wonderful  ability  for  measur- 
ing the  capacity  of  a  student.  I  shall  never  for- 
get, and  trust  I  shall  ever  profit,  by  the  privileges 
I  have  had  of  meeting  him  in  private  and  hearing 
from  him  words  of  advice  and  encouragement.  I 
felt  that  no  one  outside  of  the  family  circle  had 
sustained  in  his  death  a  greater  loss  than  I,  and  it 
seems  that  this  was  the  feeling  of  all  who  knew 
him  intimately.  I  shall  ever  thank  God  that  he 
w^as  my  teacher  and  my  friend.  As  some  majestic 
oak,  towering  above  the  surrounding  growth,  and 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  237 

with  sturdy  arm  resisting  the  tempest's  fury,  yet 
affording  sliade  for  the  sporting  lambs,  and  leafy 
branches  for  singing  birds;  so  Dr.  Brown  stood, 
loftily  and  grandly,  amid  the  great,  the  noble  and 
the  good,  and  yet  drew  around  him  the  humble 
and  less  favored — and  was  to  them  a  comfort,  a 
help,  an  unspeakable  blessing. 

"M.  S.  Wood." 

Another  student,  Rev.  P.  G.  Elsom,  the  popular 
pastor  of  Fulton  Church,  Eichmond,  Va.,  who  was 
then  a  member  of  his  class,  says : 

"  I  count  it  an  honor  and  privilege  to  have  been 
taught  by  Dr.  Brown.  I  was  deeply  impressed  by 
his  willingness  to  help  others,  in  proof  of  which 
I  will  give  one  illustration,  and  could  give  others 
if  minded.  When  selected  by  my  Society  to  be 
its  final  orator,  and  not  being  at  all  satisfied  with 
my  oration,  he  invited  me  to  his  study,  and  gave 
me  kindly  helpful  criticism,  and  words  of  comfort 
and  cheer.  What  we  do  for  others  lives.  Many 
will  rise  up  and  call  this  man  blessed  for  his  help 

*°  *'"'"^-  "  p.  G.  Elsom." 

No  man  had  a  better  opportunity  of  watching 
the  career,   and  measuring  the  influence  of  Dr. 


238  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Brown,  at  Richmond  College,  than  Dr.  C.  II. 
Ryland.  As  financial  secretary  of  the  college,  he 
had  his  office  in  the  institution,  and  was  brought 
in  frequent  contact  with  him.  In  the  subjoined 
paper,  Dr.  Ryland  gives  his  estimate  of  the  teacher, 
and  his  work.  The  reader  will  find  the  paper 
strikingly  fresh  and  suggestive  : 

"  When  Dr.  A.  B.  Brown  was  elected  Professor 
of  the  School  of  English  in  Richmond  College,  it 
was  universally  conceded  that  the  institution  had 
secured  a  master-workman. 

"  Professor  Brown  was  eminently  qualified  for 
this  position  by  broad  and  accurate  learning,  to 
which  a  vigorous  and  inquisitive  mind  made  con- 
stant acquisitions. 

"The  college  was  a  congenial  home,  and  afforded 
the  mental  stimulus  he  so  incessantly  craved.  If 
a  Greek  class  was  at  work  upon  Thucydides,  that 
father  of  philosophic  history,  he  delighted  to  enjoy 
it  with  them;  if  original  examples  were  pro- 
pounded in  higher  mathematics,  the  Professor  of 
English  made  their  solution  a  pastime;  when 
abstruse  and  subtle  questions  puzzled  the  class  in 
philosophy,  he  revelled  in  their  discussion  and  elu- 
cidation. It  was  thus,  that  in  the  school  of 
ceaseless  thought,  he  kept   his   mind    fresh    and 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  239 

vigorous,  and  from  deepening  fountains  drew  that 
wealth  of  illustrations  which  so  enriched  his 
instructions. 

"  Dr.  Brown's  thorough  knowledge  of  linguistics 
made  his  appointment  to  the  school  he  accepted, 
peculiarly  appropriate.  As  teacher  of  English,  he 
could  lay  his  hand  upon  the  resources  of  ancient 
and  modern  languages,  and  make  them  all  tribu- 
tary to  thorough  training  in  his  mother-tongue. 
In  the  practical  work  of  teaching.  Dr.  Brown  won 
constant  laurels.  In  the  Recitation  Room  he  was 
very  popular.  He  always  came  before  his  class 
the  master  of  the  subject  in  hand,  and  with  a  mind 
overflowing  with  the  richest  and  ripest  results  of 
thorough  research.  The  student  felt  the  mastery 
and  admiration  was  kindled.  But  while  the  pupil 
saw  that  his  Professor  was  superbly  equipped  for 
his  work,  and  stood  before  him  an  intellectual 
giant,  accomplished  in  the  use  of  every  weapon, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  professor's  bearing  to 
intimidate  the  most  distrustful  learner.  His  man- 
ner was  winning;  he  treated  each  man  in  his 
class  with  kind  consideration;  encouraged  the 
dispirited,  stimulated  the  laggard,  and  impressed 
those  before  him  with  his  genuine  and  abiding 
sympathy  with  them.  One  of  his  class  said,  'I 
believe  Dr.   Brown    appreciates    a   good    tliought 


240  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

from  one  of  us  as  much  as  if  he  found  it  in  Aris- 
totle.' This  was  true,  and  while  there  were  occa- 
sionally those  who  took  undue  advantage  of  his 
kindliness  and  sympathy,  there  were  many  more 
who  were  saved  from  discourao-ement,  and  stimu- 
lated  to  strive  for  eventual  success. 

"  Nor  was  the  Doctor's  teaching  confined  to 
his  immediate  classes.  His  wonderful  versatility 
brought  all  the  college  to  his  feet.  He  was  ency- 
clopedic, and  many  of  the  "  hard  questions  "  which 
arose  in  the  multiform  relations  of  student  life, 
were  referred  with  entire  confidence  to  him.  His 
genius  was  the  admiration  of  the  college. 

"  Two  other  attractive  elements  contributed  to 
his  success  as  a  teacher :  his  enthusiasm  and  his 
power  of  illustration. 

"  He  loved  to  soar,  but  he  could  plod  as  well. 
When  occasion  required  it,  he  could  leave  the 
heights  of  the  philosophy  of  language  for  the  dull 
road  of  rudimentary  instruction, — the  structure  of 
sentences,  the  syntactical  relation  of  words — with- 
out any  seeming  abatement  of  interest ;  and  over 
both  he  constantly  threw  the  charm  of  fresh  and 
appropriate  illustration.  His  philological  studies 
were  exhaustive,  and  he  never  wearied  in  tracing 
the  derivation  and  meaning  of  words  and  sur- 
names.    To  this    he  added   a  fund    of  anecdote, 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  241 

which  seemed  inexhaustible  and  which  was  used 
with  skilful  tact  to  render  his  class-room  genial 
and  to  point  the  highest  moral. 

Professor  Brown  shared  in  the  general  work  of 
caring  for  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  intellectual 
welfare  of  those  under  his  charge.  If  one  taxed 
his  brain,  the  other  weighed  upon  his  heart.  Not 
infrequently  mind  and  heart  united  to  pay  tribute 
to  his  high  calling  of  professor  in  a  Christian  insti- 
tution. It  is  the  custom  in  college  to  have  from 
the  faculty  and  others,  lectures  on  Biblical  and 
kindred  themes.  When  it  was  known  that  Pro- 
fessor Brown  would  deliver  one  of  these,  not  a 
seat  would  be  vacant.  The  writer  recalls  his 
address  on  '  The  Authority  of  the  Scriptures,'  as, 
perhaps,  second  to  no  effort  of  his  life  in  power 
and  brilliancy. 

"  It  may  not  be  inappropriate  in  closing,  to 
say,  that  in  entering  upon  his  college  work,  Dr. 
Brown's  friends  were  not  without  solicitude  ;  first, 
in  regard  to  how  he  would  bear  the  strain  which 
they  knew  must  inevitably  come  upon  his  nervous 
system  from  laborious,  routine  work,  and  daily 
contact  with  young  men  and  boys,  not  always 
appreciative  or  studious;  and  also  for  his  health — 
never  robust. 

"All  anxiety,  in  regard  to  the  first,  soon  passed 


242  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

away.  His  college-life  was  marked  by  rare  equa- 
nimity, purity,  unselfisliiiess  and  beauty.  No 
teacher  ever  more  successfully  won  and  held  the 
respect  and  affection  of  Hhe  boys,'  while  a  brother 
professor  could  say,  when  his  work  was  done, 
'  Both  by  faculty  and  students,  he  was  the  best 
loved  of  us  all.' 

"It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  give  an  incident 
which  will  illustrate  the  affection  and  deference, 
wdth  which  he  was  treated  by  the  students :  One 
d;iy  as  he  was  borne  along  by  the  inspiring  theme 
of  his  lecture  he  dropped  his  spectacles.  He 
picked  them  up  and  put  them  on  upside  down. 
The  effect  was  irresistible ;  there  w^as  a  titter — 
then  a  laugh.  For  the  first,  and  only  time,  so  far 
as  I  have  ever  heard,  the  doctor  lost  his  self-pos- 
session and  dismissed  the  class.  The  room  was 
cleared,  but  no  sooner  was  the  hall-way  reached, 
than  the  cry  arose  :  '  It  will  not  do  !  It  will  not 
do !  Dr.  Browm  must  not  think  we  meant  to  treat 
him  with  disrespect!'  Three  of  the  older  men 
were  deputed  to  return  at  once  and  explain  the 
cause  of  their  involuntary  merriment,  and  ask 
their  loved  professor's  pardon.  When  they  went 
in  they  found  him  wdtli  a  look  of  indignation  upon 
his  usually  kindly  face.  But  no  sooner  had  their 
case  been  presented  than  he  joined  in  the  laugh, 


THE  COLLEGE  PROFESSOR.  243 

and  patting  the  three  upon  their  shoulders  in 
the  most  forgiving  way,  said,  '  It  is  all  right — tell 
them  it  is  all  right !' 

"Anxiety  in  regard  to  his  health  was  never 
relieved.  He  would  say,  facetiously,  '  I  am  never 
sick,  and  j^et  never  well,'  and  by  strength  of  will 
and  great  prudence,  rarely  missed  a  recitation ;  but 
it  was  painfully  evident  that  his  valuable  life 
hung  by  a  very  frail  tenure.  He  passed  away  on 
the  night  of  November  27th,  1885. 

"  A  hush,  deeper  than  was  ever  known  before, 
fell  upon  the  college  when  it  was  whispered,, '  Dr. 
Brown  is  dead !'  His  grave,  in  beautiful  Holly- 
wood, was  piled  high  with  flowers,  the  gifts  of 
trustees,  fiiculty,  students,  friends — a  mute,  but 
wholly  inadequate  expression  of  the  bereavement 
which  has  fallen  upon  Richmond  College. 

''C.  H.  Ryland." 

The  Virginia  Baptist  Historical  Society  invited 
Dr.  Brown  to  be  its  orator  on  the  occasion  of  its 
anniversary,  which  was  held  in  Grace  Street 
Church,  in  June,  1881,  during  the  time  of  the 
General  Association.  The  following  is  the  ad- 
mirable address  delivered  before  the  assembled 
hosts  of  Virginia  Baptists  : 


244  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 


HISTORY  AND  ITS  MATERIALS. 


It  is  a  true  remark,  that  all  literature  is  in  the  widest  sense, 
history.  It  is  barely  possible  that  a  poem  might  contain 
nothing  of  actual  fact,  and  nothing  true  to  nature.  But  its 
emergence  into  being,  at  a  certain  point  in  space,  and  a 
certain  period  of  time  is  a  historical  fact.  A  writer  may  mis- 
represent every  one  else,  and  everything ;  but  he  is  compelled 
to  paint  truly,  his  own  full  picture,  at  least,  some  features  of 
himself  and  his  epoch.  But  history,  though  holding  relations 
to  all  knowledge,  has  its  peculiar  department,  as  differentiated 
by  its  own  characteristic  works.  It  essays  to  paint  the  moving 
present,  in  the  very  gesture  of  movement ;  and  to  paint  it  on 
a  stationary  canvass,  and  to  reproduce  the  dead  past  in  the 
freshness  of  life.  The  artist  must  dissect  in  his  study,  but  his 
picture  should  not  smell  of  the  anatomical  hall.  He  must 
paint  the  once  agitated  sea  of  human  passion,  but  with  the 
obtrusion  of  no  theory  of  the  winds  and  tides.  The  reader, 
or  according  to  our  figure,  the  spectator  wants  facts  in  their 
contemporary  relations,  and  in  their  causal  dependence.  To 
be  sure,  whether  the  facts  are  related  to  each  other  in  casual 
sequence,  or  in  true  lineal  descent,  is  to  be  learned  from  the 
clearly  expressed  features  of  the  facts  themselves.  A  pro- 
found philosopher  severely  abstinent  in,  if  not  totally  abstinent 


HISTORY  AND   ITS  MATERIALS.  245 

from  philosophizing  ;  a  moralist,  whose  moral  is  imbedded  in, 
and  not  appended  to  his  story  ;  a  witness  that  gives  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  and  never  argues 
a  case ;  the  perfect  historian  were  indeed  a  prodigy.  Lord 
Macaulay  justly  says,  that  we  may  sooner  expect  to  see 
another  Shakspeare  or  another  Homer.  But  we  have  real 
history  and  history  of  priceless  value.  We  should  doubtless 
have  had  much  more  history,  and  history  of  much  higher 
value,  if  its  materials  had  been  more  industriously  gathered 
and  more  carefully  preserved.  If  in  other  words,  such  service 
as  this  Historical  Society  undertakes  to  render,  had  been 
better  performed. 

How  much  richer  had  the  world  been,  in  real  historic 
knowledge,  if  the  marvelous  powers  of  Herodotus  and  Livy 
had  been  exerted  on  authentic  monuments  rather  than  devoted, 
in  so  large  measure,  to  the  compiling  and  embellishing  of 
myths  and  romances ! 

It  is  the  function  of  history,  a  function  often  very  inade- 
quately executed,  to  interpret  all  other  literature,  to  fix  the 
time  and  place  of  its  creation ;  to  account  for  its  possibility 
and  its  peculiar  physiognomy,  to  project  background,  and  to 
hang  it  in  its  just  light.  It  would  seem  for  instance,  that  the 
unity  of  the  Iliad  ought  to  be  one  of  the  simplest  problems ; 
yet,  it  is  to-day,  a  vexed  question  whether  the  unity  of  great 
poems,  or  congeries  of  poems,  is  the  unity  of  individual 
authorship,  or  the  unity  of  a  school  of  bards. 

We  know  further,  that  Agamemnon  and  Achilles  owed  the 
immortality  of  their  fame  to  the  great  heralding,  or  the  great 


246  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  REOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

herald.  "We  know  that  subsequent  ages  owe  much  to  the 
great  poem.  We  can  never  know  how  much  of  Homer's 
wondrous  riches  he  inherited,  and  how  much  he  created ;  but 
history,  besides  illustrating  for  Milton  and  Pascal,  a  wide 
range  of  otherwise  unintelligible  allusion,  debits  them  with 
almost  their  precise  indebtedness  to  the  past,  and  audits  and 
avouches  their  claims  to  large  and  precious  contributions,  to 
the  language  and  literature  of  their  respective  countries. 
Great  writers  are  the  intellectual  legislators  of  mankind. 
History  gives  us  the  occasions,  the  immediate  purview  of  their 
statutes,  and  the  usus  loquendi  of  the  very  words  in  which 
these  are  written.  We  have  said  that  every  author  paints  at 
least  himself;  but  this  is  to  be  taken  with  an  important  limi- 
tation. Often  a  small  section  of  his  soul  finds  employment  in 
his  work,  or  his  whole  soul  operates  in  a  field  too  narrow  to 
give  him  full  expression.  We  have  a  scantling,  a  precious 
scantling,  indeed,  of  Euclid's  mind,  only  in  its  severe  but 
prolific  logic,  exhibited  in  a  single  department  of  thought. 
His  heart,  his  experience  and  all  but  a  fragment  of  his  acute 
intellect  is  lost  for  want  of  history. 

Biahop  Butler  lives  principally  in  a  few  sermons,  and  his 
Analogy,  probably  the  most  sober,  judicious,  accurate  and 
utterly  unassailable  of  all  merely  human  productions  in  its 
class  of  subjects.  That  his  immortal  work  is  not  merely  the 
mechanical  product  of  his  cautious  and  powerful  intelligence, 
but  the  true  reflex  of  his  inmost  convictions,  we  make  no 
doubt.  But,  how  fully  his  entire  life  conformed  to  the  truth 
so  powerfully  advocated,  we  know  not.     Compare  with  him, 


HISTORY   AND  ITS  MATERIALS.  247 

Samuel  Joliiison,  better  known  to  us  in  his  inimitable  biogra- 
phy, than  in  his  own  voluminous  writings,  far  more  self- 
revealing  as  they  are,  than  those  of  most  authors ;  and  see  the 
difference  between  the  influence  of  a  great  work  and  a  great 
life,  fully  presented.  It  is  man  that  we  are  most  curious  to 
know ;  it  is  man  that  it  is  most  helpful  to  know  ;  man  in  and 
beyond  his  carefully  selected  self- registrations,  in  and  beyond 
his  more  prominent  actions.  It  is  man  that  history  attempts 
to  present  us ;  and  for  that  large  class  of  great  workers  whose 
instrument  was  not  the  pen,  but  the  tongue  of  fire ;  and  Avho 
have  transfused  their  quickening  thought,  their  constraining 
will,  their  kindling  sentiment — into  other  minds  and  hearts — 
we  must  look  to  history  alone. 

The  epic  poet  justly  claims  an  interest  in  the  great  scourges 
and  the  great  benefactors  of  the  human  race.  Let  him  im- 
agine below  the  lowest  depths  of  human  atrocity,  still  lower 
depths ;  let  him  gild  the  gold  which  has  been  refined  in  the 
fire  of  trial  and  persecution.  Yet  it  is  the  prerogative  of 
stern,  sober  history  to  hang  beastliness,  falsehood  and  cruelty 
in  the  most  torturing  pillory ;  and  place  genius,  and  virtue, 
and  courage  on  their  highest  pedestal.  History  takes  com- 
mand of  all  truth,  and  marshals  it  in  procession  before  us. 
Science,  especially  the  more  exact  science,  presents  truth  in 
the  light  of  the  reigning  fashion,  branded  Avith  no  dates, 
ticketed  with  no  cost  marks — all  projected  on  a  near  plane 
which  faces  us.  Truth  is  exhibited  not  in  tlie  intricate,  cum- 
brous— sometimes  not  very  rigorous — demonstrations  ;  but 
tersely,  methodically,  in  the  light  of  self-evidence,  or  in  that 


248  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BrwOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

of  the  plainest  possible  logic.  The  forward  school  boy  passes 
over  in  a  few  months  ground  which  it  took  humanity  centuries 
to  traverse  ;  sees  clearly  what  the  vanguard  of  human  progress 
saw  dimly,  or  saw  not  at  all.  Doctrines,  which  are  the  par- 
venus of  the  decade,  jostle  on  terms  of  intimacy  through  old 
fiimilies,  compared  with  which  the  Howards  are  of  yesterday. 
We  are  greatly  obliged  to  science  for  a  method  of  instruction 
so  much  to  our  profit  and  enjoyment.  History  comes  forward 
now  to  restore  every  point  of  this  projection  to  its  original 
place.  She  arranges  these  truths  into  corps,  divisions  and 
regiments ;  moves  them  back  in  sections  at  a  time,  halts  each 
individual  at  its  place  of  emergence ;  large  divisions  are  sta- 
tioned at  the  doors  of  certain  great  men,  whole  armies  ai-e 
halted  at  certain  productive  epochs.  The  whole  host  is 
marched  back,  resuming  on  the  way  its  ancient  uniforms, 
platoon  and  an  individual  resting  for  review  at  the  appro- 
priate station,  till  the  whole  field  of  a  continuous  civilization 
is  echeloned  over  with  the  multitude  which  had  just  consti- 
tuted the  dressed  line  of  the  present.  The  mathematical 
column  drops  out  its  calculus,  its  conic  sections,  its  logarithms, 
its  decimal  notation,  its  trigonometry,  its  geometry,  its  arith- 
metic, till  the  weakened  is  reduced  to  the  Pythagorean 
multiplication,  preserving  to  the  last  its  old  Greek  nomencla- 
ture. Chemistry  soon  loses  its  dizzying  array  of  facts,  its 
wide  generalizations,  its  batteries,  its  earths  and  alkalis,  and 
disappears  in  its  wide  search  for  universal  solvent  and  philoso- 
pher's stone.  Geology  soon  dismisses  her  scams,  her  dips,  her 
strikes,  her  ligands  and  lichens,  and  sinks  debating  (for  it  is 


HISTORY  AND   ITS   MATERIALS.  249 

the  way  of  the  exact  sciences  to  debate),  whether  she  is  born 
of  water  or  fire. 

But  time  would  fail  to  follow  the  procession  and  witness 
retiring  to  their  assigned  posts  the  spectroscopes  and  the  celes- 
tial maps  of  yesterday,  the  grand  generalization  of  Newton, 
the  patient  and  invaluable  inductions  of  Kepler.  The  sys- 
tems of  Copernicus  and  Ptolemy  tell  that  proud  Astronomy, 
which  some  think  exhibits  the  glory  of  La  Place  more  than 
the  glory  of  God,  dwindles  into  the  speculations  and  observa- 
tions of  Chaldean  shepherds.  All  the  arts  are  distributed 
over  the  past,  even  those  which  would  seem  to  be  the  neces- 
sary products  of  human  skill,  telling  a  story  of  incalculable 
toil.  All  the  political  and  moral  truths,  even  those  which 
now  seem  the  simplest  axioms  and  tritest  commonplaces, 
reminding  us  of  ages  when  challenged  as  wild  paradoxes 
and  daring  innovations — they  are  now  standing  ground  with 
tears  and  blood.  Let  them  now  all  be  bidden  back  to  their 
present  places,  and  they  will  come  invested  with  new  interest 
and  new  charms.  They  will  come  attended  with  that  retinue 
of  associations  which  makes  truth  easy  to  the  memory  and  grate- 
ful to  the  taste.  They  will  come  back  exhibiting  direction  and 
rate  of  movement  of  each  department  of  knowledge,  and  sug- 
gesting to  every  lover  of  the  orderly  progress  of  truth,  where 
to  seek  employment.  And  I  suspect  they  will  teach  as  em- 
phatically as  anything  else  that  history,  so  hateful  to  every 
other  branch  of  knowledge,  itself  n-ust  needs  to  be  helped. 

And  Clio,  the  muse  of  History,  is  more  than  ever  calling, 
and  calling  not  in  vain,  for  aid  from  all  her  sisters.     She 


250  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

summous  Philosophy  as  an  expert,  presents  her  the  names  of 
ancient  rivers  and  mountains,  and  takes  her  confirming  or  re- 
butting testimony  on  the  migrations  and  settlements  of  ancient 
races.  She  appeals  to  Geology  and  Meteorology  to  know  whether 
the  denuded  and  barren  slopes  of  Palestine  could  ever  have 
exulted  in  a  fertility  and  beauty  which  extorted  the  unwilling 
admiration  of  the  naturalist  Strabo,  and  the  prophet  Balaam. 
She  studiously  examines  the  models  of  ancient  ships,  finds  how 
many  points  they  could  sail  against  the  wind,  questions  wit- 
nesses on  the  habits  of  the  capricious  currents  of  the  air, 
inspects  the  recorded  accurate  soundings  of  the  British  Navy, 
and  then  describes  with  utmost  precision  the  drifting  on  the 
Mediterranean  of  an  Alexandrian  corn-ship,  which  could  not 
sink  with  a  greater  than  Caesar  on  board,  and  its  going  to 
pieces  in  a  vain  struggle  with  the  tenacious  anchorages  of 
the  harbor  of  Malta.  "We  are  glad  that  modern  historians 
are  scanning  the  past  with  severe  criticism.  Even  their 
hypercriticism,  though  not  to  their  honor,  is  overruled  for  good. 
Science  and  scientific  criticism  bring  out  some  new  truth,  cor- 
roborate much  more  old  truth,  and  explode  much  more  old 
error.  Of  necessity  this  criticism  can  more  easily  tell  what  could 
not  have  been  than  what  was.  It  is  mainly  nt^gativc,  and  has 
been  correctly  named  destructive  criticism.  So  much  professed 
history,  in  which  truth  and  fiction  mingled  in  tantalizing  pro- 
portions, invited  rigid  examination ;  and  the  skeptical  criticism 
developing  its  methods  and  sharpening  its  instruments  by  prac- 
tice on  the  myths  of  profane  history,  confidently  turned  them 
against  the  fundamental  monuments  of  Christianity.  And  Chris- 


HISTORY  AND   ITS   MATERIALS.  251 

tianity  welcomed  the  examination  with  dignified  confidence; 
submitted  to  pert  and  irreverent  questioning ;  courted  a  search 
into  her  inmost  sanctities  ;  pressingly  invited  a  hostile  investiga- 
tion, to  walk  about  Zion,  count  her  tombs  and  mark  well  her  bul- 
warks. Her  confidence  has  been  justified ;  her  ancient  monu- 
ments have  defied  hostile  criticism.  By  this  time  the  world 
ought  to  be  satisfied  that  the  Church  is  fiaunded  upon  a  rock. 
The  same  opposition  to  evangelical  truth,  which  assailed  it  at 
its  birth,  is  still  maintained.  But  apart  from  this,  mankind 
appears  more  determined  than  ever  to  know  the  precise  truth  on 
every  subject.  The  physical  sciences,  which  are  more  than  ever 
studied,  furnish  mathematical  or  experimental  demonstra- 
tion. It  is  not  strange  that  the  habit  should  be  formed  of 
demanding  in  other  departments  of  knowledge,  an  evidence 
which  the  volume  of  the  case  does  not  furnish,  and  especially 
the  truth  of  history.  A  philosophical  system  utterly  ground- 
less, may  as  vigorously,  though  hardly  as  healthfully,  exercise 
the  mind  as  one  embodying  the  truth.  A  novel  may  present 
us,  in  a  new  ideal  aspect,  facts  of  human  nature  familiar  to 
our  experience  and  observation,  it  may  formulate  our  know- 
ledge in  striking  and  convenient  expression,  and  even  make 
some  contribution  to  the  actual  development  of  that  know- 
ledge. It  would  be  absurd  to  draw  one's  facts  from  a  novel, 
instead  of  bringing  the  novel  to  the  standard  of  known  facts. 
But  falser  than  any  romance,  except  a  political  novel,  which 
appeals  to  the  prejudices  of  the  distant  readers  for  its  general  con- 
formity to  truth,  and  which  evades  responsibility  for  the  special 
form  of  the  libel  by  pleading  poetic  license,  nothing  can  be 


252  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

more  misleading  than  much  tliat  passes  under  the  name  of 
history.  A  romance  which  should  project  the  essential  ele- 
ments of  life  in  its  own  age  upon  a  distant  place  and  time, 
would  be  less  erroneous  than  a  grave  history  recording  what 
neither  happened  nor  could  happen  at  any  period.  The  light 
which  shines  upon  the  present  and  the  near  future,  issues 
mainly  from  the  past.  If,  then,  our  light  be  darkness,  how 
fatal  is  that  darkness.  False  history  is  a  false  chart,  and 
false  sailing  directions — a  wrecker  holding  out  deceitful 
beacons.  Yet  there  have  been  eras  when  fictitious  or  uncer- 
tain history  was  followed  with  a  reverence  not  due  to  the 
real.  The  present  is  never  the  servile  imitator  of  the  past. 
History  never  fully  reproduces  itself,  and  therefore  much 
sagacity  is  needed  in  adapting  its  instructions  to  present  use. 
Yet  the  precedents  of  a  history  in  which  fable  and  truth  have 
been  indiscriminately  blended,  have  been  the  rigid  formulas 
according  to  which  the  statesmen  of  routine  have  essayed  to 
bleed  again,  and  blister  again,  into  health,  the  body  politic. 
In  days  not  very  long  since  past,  mankind  seemed  to  prefer 
for  their  guidance  as  well  as  their  amusement,  the  legends  of 
heroes  and  demi-gods  to  the  well-vouched  experiences  of  their 
fathers.  Almost  every  line  which  the  eloquent  and  graceful 
Livy  wrote  on  the  traditions  of  ancient  Rome,  survives. 
Almost  all  the  labor  he  bestowed  on  its  really  historic  periods, 
has  been  labor  utterly  lost.  We  rejoice  that  a  new  attitude  has 
been  assumed  toward  the  past,  that  while  modern  civilization 
is  cultivating  a  most  affectionate  interest  in  the  explorations 
of  the  mounds  of  western  America,  and  in  the  excavations  of 


HISTORY  AND  ITS  MATERIALS.  253 

Babylon  and  Troy,  it  is  subjecting  their  revelations  to  tests  as 
varied  and  as  rigid  as  those  of  the  la;boratory ;  and  Ave  rejoice 
that  in  the  nearly  hopeless  search  for  the  distant  past,  they  are 
not  neglecting  as  soon  as  the  life  is  fairly  out  of  the  present,  to 
embalm  it  for  eternal  preservation. 

The  recent  movements  to  organize  effort  for  securing  the 
material  of  history,  are  all  the  more  hopeful,  as  they  are  but 
one  branch  of  a  much  Avider  enterprise,  whose  interaction  will 
help  to  sustain  them.  The  bureaus  of  Washington  City  are 
plying  the  farmers  of  the  country  with  questions  calling  out 
facts,  in  aid  of  a  more  exhaustive  and  scientific  treatment  of 
agriculture.  They  are  imploring  every  old  man  of  leisure  to 
furnish  them  the  daily  range  of  his  thermometer,  and  the 
hourly  shiftings  of  his  weather-cock.  They  would  set  every 
idle  boy  to  recording  birds  and  caterpillars,  and  forwarding 
his  observations.  They  supply  every  vessel,  that  sails  to 
distant  coasts,  with  bottles  to  be  dropped  into  the  sea  Avith  a 
sealed  statement  of  the  place  and  the  time,  that  their  floating 
may  indicate  the  drift  of  the  currents  of  the  ocean.  While 
around  us  there  is  the  stir  of  a  concerted  effort  to  gather  and 
sift,  and  co-ordinate  and  generalize  facts,  for  the  guidance  of 
the  future ;  it  is  timely,  it  is  seemly,  that  the  Christian  Church 
should  take  her  appropriate  part  in  a  great  movement.  The 
ship  that  bears  so  much  precious  life,  and  so  much  precious 
freight,  should  be  careful  in  her  sounding,  incessant  in  obser- 
vations, and  scrupulous  and  accurate  in  keeping  her  log- 
book. And  yet,  Christianity,  Avhich  has  preserA^ed  in  her 
libraries,  almost  all  that  has  been  preserved  of  Pagan  Greece 


254  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

and  Rome,  has  been  less  careful  of  her  own  history,  thnn  of 
anything  else.  We  find  no  regular  attempt  at  church  history 
till  after  the  Council  of  Nice,  in  the  fourth  century ;  before 
this,  there  were  great,  rapid  and  wholly  silent  revolutions  in 
the  form  and  spirit  of  Christianity.  It  is  really  wonderful, 
that  while  the  Church  was  engaged  in  questions  about  the 
person  of  our  Lord;  questions,  many  of  them  altogether 
frivolous  and  presumptuous,  and  questions  about  the  proper 
time  of  Easter,  as  trifling  as  the  Big  Indian  and  Little  Indian 
controversy  of  the  Lilliputians ;  a  deluge  of  change  passed 
unrecorded  over  the  early  simplicity  of  religion.  We  should 
be  compelled  to  admit,  that  the  Christianity  of  the  fourth,  fifth 
and  sixth  centuries  was  primitive  Christianity,  if  this  did  not 
involve,  that  there  was  in  the  apostolic  age,  a  body  of  un- 
written truth,  wholly  distinct  from  the  written  ;  and  incon- 
sistent, indeed  incompatible  with  it.  And  while  it  is  easy  to 
show  that  there  were  innovations,  we  are  at  great  disadvantage 
in  meeting  them,  from  the  silence  of  history. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  255 


A  PART  OF  AN  ADDRESS  ON  THE  ADVANTAGES 
OF  A  COLLEGIATE  EDUCATION. 


I  PROPOSE  to  maiutain  before  you,  ray  hearers,  the  supe- 
riority of  thorough  collegiate  traiuiug  over  every  other,  as  a 
preparation  for  any  profession,  business,  trade — in  a  word  for 
any  legitimate  walk  in  life  except,  per/iaps,  the  very  lowest. 
I  admit  in  this  statement,  that  scholastic  and  collegiate  edu- 
cation is  not  the  only  mode  of  communicating  useful  know- 
ledge, and  the  sole  discipline  of  mental  power.  The  mind 
is  endowed  in  varying,  but  generally  in  large  degree,  with 
spontaneous  activity.  It  can  never  be  exerted  without  the 
development  of  power ;  and  it  is  surrounded  by  objects  which 
solicit,  encourage,  tax  and  reward  it.  It  thus  develops  power 
and  gains  truth.  It  scarcely  makes  any  effort  without  acquir- 
ing more  or  less  of  knowledge.  It  never  acquires  any  know- 
ledge without  the  exercise  and  increase  of  its  own  vigor ;  this 
last  statement  might  seem  too  strong.  Knowledge  radiates 
in  upon  us ;  so  quiet  and  facile  at  times  is  the  acquisition, 
especially  the  youthful  acquisition  of  knowledge,  that  we  are 
inclined  to  pronounce  it  a  merely  passive  absorption.  It  is 
never  so.  The  mind  must  actively  construe  every  sign 
of  thought,  interpret  every  word,  judge  every  utterance. 
And  with  whatever  apparent  unconsciousness,  and  however 


256  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BEOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

mechanically,  the  association  of  ideas  may  sort  out  our  new 
impressions,  for  their  places  in  the  memory,  the  Avill  is  every- 
where active  in  forming  our  hahits  of  thought,  and  in  co-ordi- 
nating our  attainments.  And  this  involves  that  every  mind 
tends  to  self-evolution,  that  every  man  is  in  some  degree, 
self-made,  and  that  mental  training  takes  care  of  itself;  as 
the  boy's  tune  whistled  itself.  But  such  mental  unfolding 
is  quite  too  easy,  quite  too  feeble  to  qualify  for  the  stern 
problems  of  life. 

Every  mind  is  active,  but  probably  no  mind  takes  naturally 
to  hard  work.  Repeated  instructions,  patient  inculcations  of 
lessons,  along  with  something  of  restraint  and  constraint,  are 
necessary  to  evoke  any  mental  exercise  beyond  mere  play. 
And  where  laborious  teaching  is  done  apart  from  the  methods 
of  the  schools  ;  where  tasks  are  imposed  and  some  regularity 
of  exertion,  Avithin  the  competence  of  early  life  is  required; 
the  teaching  is  too  desultory,  occasional  and  miscellaneous, 
and  the  exertion  soon  becomes  too  easy  to  tax  any,  and  too 
narrow  to  call  out  all  of  the  powers  of  the  mind.  The  school, 
especially  the  higher  school,  presents  to  the  mind  lessons 
which  are  models  of  luminous  method,  arranged  on  an 
ascending  scale  of  difficulty — lessons  which  awaken  and  repay 
curiosity,  which  stimulate  and  constrain  effort,  and  Avhich 
suggest  unfailing  tests  of  successful  effort.  And  not  only  does 
it  expand  and  sharpen  the  mind  by  the  irapartation  of  wide 
spheres  of  generalized,  and  systematized  truth  ;  but  more  and 
more  as  the  course  extends  it  cultivates  those  powers  of  analysis, 
induction  and  deduction,  which  qualify  for  the  independent 


COLLEGIATE  EDUCATION.  257 

investigation,  and  elaboration  of  any  and  all  truth.  Let  us 
enter  a  very  little  into  detail.  It  teaches  more  thoroughly 
than  can  be  acquired  anywhere  else,  the  prompt,  facile  and 
adequate  interpretation  of  language,  in  which  is  recorded  all 
the  surviving  product  of  human  thought,  all  the  extant 
experience  of  the  human  race.  It  presents  for  arduous  and 
invigorating  study,  language,  itself  the  most  wondrous  and 
the  most  valuable  creation  of  man's  skill ;  language  adjusting 
with  almost  infinite  flexibility,  to  every  mode  and  every  act 
of  consciousness ;  supporting  science  in  every  step  of  her 
rigorous  and  subtle  reasoning,  and  in  every  flight  of  her 
soaring  speculation ;  painting  the  poet's  lightest  dream  ; 
launching  the  bolt  and  thundering  the  peal  of  the  orator's 
indignation,  and  breathing  in  gentlest  accents  the  mother's 
and  the  maiden's  love.  What  power  is  involved  in  the 
accurate  interpretation  of  another's  thought  and  in  the  ade- 
quate expression  of  one's  own ! 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  is  not  half.  If  not  all  thought, 
certainly  all  clear  and  continuous  thought,  is  dependent  on 
language.  Language  and  reasoning  are  not  identical,  but 
they  are  practically  inseparable.  Sir  William  Hamilton  has 
well  said  that  thought  may  be,  indeed  must  be,  a  little  ahead  of 
language,  but  language  must  follow  close  on  its  heels  to  bind 
its  harvests  into  bundles.  Changing  the  figure.  Thinking 
is  like  tunneling  a  sand-bank.  The  spade  reaches  a  little 
beyond  the  supporting  framework,  but  no  secure  progress  is 
made  unless  the  timber  or  masonry  closely  follow  to  shove  up 
every  foot  of  the  advance.     Thought  may  skirmish  in  front — 


258  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

nay,  may  gain  some  indecisive  victories — but  words  must  follow 
hard  to  hold  the  ground.  What  a  ludicrous  but  natural  mistake 
in  him  who  supposed  that  Jemmy  O'Toole  had  merely  chated 
him  out  of  a  Sunday  sail  for  idays  when  he  robbed  him  of  his 
opportunities  for  education.  Language  is  more  than  Sunday 
dress  for  ideas.  It  is  necessary  raiment.  I  should  scarcely 
go  too  far  if  I  added,  it  is  the  meat,  and  drink,  and  vital  air 
of  thought.  I  should  insult  your  intelligence  if  I  should 
maintain  that  this  invaluable  thing  is  monopolized  by  the 
colleges.  But  I  do  say,  that  where  fair  competency  in  the 
teacher,  meets  fair  ability  in  the  pupil,  there  the  highest  ad- 
vantages are  likely  to  be  realized.  I  must  not  forget  that  I 
undertook  to  show  tlie  practical  advantages  of  collegiate 
education  for  all  the  higher  walks  of  professional  and  indus- 
trial life.  I  must  not  then  insist  on  the  fact  that  in  the  two  dead 
languages  taught  in  college — the  Greek  and  the  Latin — are 
contained,  the  authoritative  standards  of  Christian  doctrine 
and  ecclesiastical  history.  The  original  records  in  the  one, 
the  history  of  doctrine  and  organization  in  the  other.  That 
the  foundations,  and  more  than  mere  foundations,  of  our 
modern  philosophy  are  in  them.  That  they  contain  the 
seeds  of  most  of  our  modern  science  and  literature,  I  may 
not  pass  over  the  fact  that  almost  all  the  more  comprehensive 
terms  in  our  language,  and  nearly  half  of  the  terms  in  even 
most  common  use,  are  better  understood  by  a  respectable  pro- 
ficient in  those  languages.  I  must  insist  that  the  scantling  of 
Ciiesar's  Commentaries,  Virgil's  Eclogues,  and  Horace's  Odes, 
which  even  a  graduate  could  bring  away  from  college,  might 


COLLEGIATE  EDUCATION.  259 

prove  a  very  slender  outfit  of  practical  knowledge  for  a  lawyer, 
a  merchant,  or  a  farmer.  The  vigor,  accuracy,  readiness,  and 
subtilty  of  thinking  developed  in  their  acquisition,  are  invalua- 
ble advantages  in  every  department  of  activity.  We  can  only 
touch  the  science  of  the  mathematics.  Beginning  with  a 
meagre  outfit  of  axioms,  forms  and  definitions,  what  a  magnifi- 
cent sphere  of  truth — now  it  is  said,  widening  more  rapidly  than 
ever — has  it  constructed.  Itself  simply  ideal,  a  realm  of  pure 
abstractions,  it  allies  itself  with  fact  and  observation,  it 
locates  railroads  and  canals,  levels  the  hills,  tunnels  the  moun- 
tains, builds  bridges,  aqueducts,  palaces  and  temples,  con- 
structs your  maps,  establishes  the  boundaries  between  farms 
and  between  nations,  fixes  time  and  calends,  fashions  the  ship 
and  guides  it  with  almost  unerring  certainty  over  the  pathless 
waters ;  not  to  speak  of  what  it  has  done  in  threading  the  whole 
labyrinth  of  nature,  in  the  earth  and  in  the  heavens,  how 
practically  useful  it  is  to  the  race.  But  one  says,  except  some 
aid  in  practical  work,  it  is  worth  nothing  to  me  directly  in  my 
office,  in  my  shop,  on  my  farm.  Calculus,  I  admit,  is  worth 
nothing  directly  in  most  of  the  pursuits  of  life.  But  mathe- 
matics, as  a  practical  drill. in  analysis,  as  the  best  known 
training  in  continuous  and  subtle  reasoning,  is  the  best  disci- 
pline of  mind  in  deduction  and  expei'ience. 

The  profound  and  brilliant  Macaulay,  hardly  equalled  by 
any  linguist,  who  has  made  the  languages  his  special  life-long 
study,  was  a  good  mathematician,  but  formed  a  capricious 
distaste  to  mathematics;  he  failed  to  win  the  highest  honors  of 
Cambridge.      Many  years  afterwards   he   remarked,  with  a 


260  LIFE  OF  A.  H.  BROAVN,  DD.  LLD. 

touch  of  sadness,  "  I  would  not  turn  over  one  of  my  fingers  for 
the  honor  of  being  Senior  "Wrangler,  but  I  Avould  give  a  great 
deal  for  the  habits  of  mind,  which  the  gaining  of  the  honor 
would  have  established  and  avouched,"  I  may  not  detain  you 
to  speak  of  that  science,  of  know  thyself,  which  itself  is  the 
subject,  or  the  object  matter,  in  which  the  soul  minutely 
inventories,  not  its  products  but  its  powers ;  in  which  it  dis- 
sects itself,  and  yet  lives  with  increased  vigor ;  and  in  which 
it  surveys  and  enlarges  itself  in  the  very  act  of  surveying  all 
things  else  that  lie  in  the  range  of  its  vision.  Surely,  surely, 
the  study  of  ourselves  and  of  kindred  souls  is  invaluable,  both 
in  its  silent  knowledge  and  in  discipline. 

Of  natural  philosophy  and  chemistry,  I  need  say  no  more 
than  that  the  former,  is  in  a  great  measure,  applied  mathe- 
matics ;  and  that  where  they  differ  from  mathematics  they  both 
furnish  knowledge  more  immediately  available ;  and  establish 
habits  of  thought  m«re  immediately  applicable  in  the  so-called 
productive  industries,  than  any  other  studies.  The  whole 
course  is  skilfully  calculated  to  make  the  several  studies 
mutually  helpful  and  complementar}'^,  and  to  furnish  the 
greatest  amount  of  valuable  truth,  and  the  highest  degree  of 
rounded  and  symmetrical  mental  development.  Often  those 
studies  which  afford  a  minimum  of  directly  available  truth, 
afford  the  maximum  of  culture.  The  college  course  com- 
prehends all  the  great  departments  of  human  knowledge,  but 
it  presents  them  rather  in  the  manner  of  a  general  school, 
than  of  a  topographical  map.  It  marks  the  great  thorough- 
fares into  the  grand  main  divisions  of  truth,  indexes  the  roads 


COLLEGIATE  EDUCATION.  261 

leading  into  the  lesser  territories,  and  helps  to  a  commanding 
outlook  on  the  whole.  Its  wealth  consists  rather  of  ingots 
than  of  small  change,  and  it  requires  a  supplemental  practical 
tact  to  coin  them  for  immediate  use.  It  more  than  any  other 
training,  cultivates  the  power  of  rapidly  acquiring  this  tact,  in 
converting  its  own  stores  into  available  forms,  and  in  gaining 
whatever  additional  stores  may  be  necessary. 

The  young  farmer  who  has  been  five  years  on  the  farm  will 
succeed  at  first,  greatly  beyond  his  young  neighbor  of  equal 
native  ability,  who  returns  from  a  five  years'  course  at  college, 
and  goes  right  ofi*  to  farming.  The  old  neighbors  will  laugh 
at  the  first  eflTorts  of  the  agricultural  novice  who  has  no  guide 
at  all,  or  no  guide  but  Liebig  and  the  Southern  Planter. 

If  the  young  planter  be  a  Jno.  R.  Edmunds,  they  will 
soon  cease  to  laugh  and  begin  to  stare.  But  what  a  strange 
inference  they  will  draw !  When  *'  Dick  "  came  home  from 
the  University  he  was  a  great  bungler.  University  education 
is  nothing  to  a  farmer ;  practice  is  everything.  Why,  we 
may  ask,  had  not  practice  done  as  much  for  some  of  them, 
scarcely  inferior  in  natural  endowments  to  this  great  states- 
man, and  greatest  of  farmers  ?  Ah !  the  University  education 
was  behind  all  the  practice,  in  all  the  practice.  The  young 
Collegiate  will  wrap  goods  as  nimbly,  run  up  a  column  of 
numbers  as  rapidly,  post  books  as  skilfully  as  a  rival  with  less 
of  general,  and  more  of  special  training.  But  give  the  youno- 
scholar  a  little  time,  and  he  will  vindicate  the  practical  Avorth 
of  his  studies. 


262  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 


CHAPTER   X. 

HIS  DEATH. 

TT  was  a  remarkable  fact,  that  while  through  all 
-*-  his  life,  Dr.  Brown  was  fragile  and  delicate,  he 
was  enabled  to  say  on  his  death  bed  that  he  had 
never  had  a  serious  sickness,  and  had  never  known 
the  day  when  he  could  not  dress  himself.  Always 
a  victim  to  constitutional  infirmities,  he  yet  seemed 
to  be  singularly  exempt  from  ordinary  diseases. 
He  endured  the  hardships  and  exposures  of  a 
country  pastorate,  and  yet  escaped  the  ordinary 
ailments  with  which  his  stronger  brethren  so 
often  suffered.  This  was  due  in  part  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  habits  and  his  unfailing  prudence. 

For  many  years  he  was  the  victim  of  a  cough. 
When,  in  1881,  he  came  to  Richmond  to  enter 
upon  his  duties  as  a  Professor  in  the  College,  he 
was  a  guest  in  the  home  of  the  writer  during  the 
time  of  his  preparation  for  housekeeping.  I  had 
not  met  him  many  times  since  he  was  my  teacher 
in  the  Albemarle  Female  Institute,  and  it  was  one 
of  the  sweetest  privileges  of  my  domestic  life  to 


HIS   DEATH.  263 

welcome  him  and  his  loved  ones  to  my  board  and 
fireside.  His  coming  was  an  event  fraught  with 
joy  to  man}^,  and  my  own  heart  bounded  with 
grateful  pride  to  see  my  old  teacher  take  his  place 
in  that  Institution,  so  deeply  enshrined  in  the 
aflfections  of  the  Virginia  Baptists.  But,  after 
seeing  him  and  noticing  his  wasted  form  and  hear- 
ing in  the  night  his  incessant  coughing,  my  joy 
changed  to  anxiety.  He  was,  however,  so  full 
of  vivacity  and  showed  such  marked  powers  of 
endurance,  that  the  forebodings  of  his  friends 
seemed  to  be  unnecessary.  He  took  up  his  work 
with  surprising  energy,  and  prosecuted  it  with  an 
ardor  so  fresh  and  buoyant,  that  the  question  of 
his  health  ceased  to  be  discussed.  Sometimes,  at 
the  end  of  the  sessions,  he  exhibited  signs  of  pros- 
tration and  exhaustion.  But,  after  his  vacations, 
he  would  return  to  his  duties  renewed  in  strength 
and  hope. 

The  College  Session  of  1885-86  opened  with 
unusual  interest.  It  had  been  announced  that 
the  exercises  would  be  introduced  by  a  public 
address  from  Dr.  Brown.  His  popularity  with 
the  students  was  such  that,  contrary  to  their  cus- 
tom of  lingering  at  home  until  the  day  on  which 
the  recitation  bell  would  ring,  they  came  in  large 
numbers,  that  they  might  enjoy  the    luxury  of 


264  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

hearing  him.  In  addition  to  the  students  and 
professors,  there  were  present  from  the  city  many 
cultivated  people,  making  one  of  those  apprecia- 
tive and  sympathetic  audiences  which  always 
called  forth  his  noblest  powers.  His  subject  was 
"Christian  Education,"  and  in  it  he  showed  by 
an  argument  at  once  compact  and  masterly,  that 
Christian  teaching  may  be  done  more  effectually 
by  example  and  silent  influence  than  by  formal 
religious  instruction  under  legislative  enactment. 
The  address  was  witty,  unique,  richly  entertaining 
and  thrillingly  eloquent. 

But  human  life  is  subject  to  startling  changes. 
This  auspicious  opening  of  the  College  was  soon  to 
be  followed  by  one  of  the  saddest  incidents  which 
had  ever  marked  its  history.  While  apparently 
as  Avell  as  usual,  Dr.  Brown  was  evidently  anxious 
about  the  condition  of  his  health.  He  consulted 
physicians,  but  they  gave  him  no  reason  for  special 
alarm. 

The  General  Baptist  Association  met  in  the 
early  part  of  November,  in  the  city  of  Eichmond, 
Ya.  Dr.  Brown  attended  its  sessions,  and  while 
he  took  no  part  in  the  public  discussions,  he  greatly 
enjoyed  his  companionship  with  his  brethren.  He 
filled  his  house  with  delegates,  and  day  by  day  his 
parlors  were  crowded  with  friends   to  whom  he 


HIS   DEATH.  265 

extended  a  delightful  hospitality.  Little  did  his 
brethren  dream  that  his  end  would  come  so  soon. 
During  the  week  following  the  Association,  Mr. 
Carson  Brown,  the  eldest  son  of  the  deceased,  was 
married,  and  brought  his  bride  to  his  father's  house. 
The  marriage  was  in  all  respects  most  agreeable 
to  the  family ;  and  Dr.  Brown  hailed  the  coming 
of  his  new  daughter  with  many  demonstrations 
of  pleasure.  He  gave  himself  heartily  to  the 
entertainment  of  the  bridal  pair.  It  was  noticed 
that  he  was  facetious  and  jovial  even  beyond  his 
wont,  and  he  brightened  the  home  circle  with 
many  a  flash  of  his  quaint  and  mirth-provoking 
wit.  Perhaps  in  all  the  earth  there  could  not  have 
been  found  a  happier  home  than  was  that  of  Dr. 
Brown's  during  the  few  days  when  he  had  Carson 
and  his  young  wife  as  guests.  He  was  a  prince  of 
talkers,  and  no  where  did  his  colloquial  powers 
show  to  greater  advantage  than  at  his  own  fire- 
side, and  none  enjoyed  him  more  than  his  own 
family. 

He  was  engaged  to  preach  at  the  First  Baptist 
Church  on  Sunday,  November  22d;  but,  on  rising 
Sunday  morning,  he  was  attacked  with  a  nausea, 
which  so  completely  prostrated  him  that  he  was 
compelled  to  recall  the  appointment.  On  Monday 
morning  Mr.  Carson  Brown  and  his  wife  left  for 


266  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

their  lioinc,  in  Pittsylvania,  with  no  serious  mis- 
giving as  to  the  condition  of  their  father,  little 
thinking  of  the  message  that  was  so  soon  to  recall 
them. 

On  Tuesday,  the  writer  called  at  his  home ;  and 
on  being  invited  to  the  chamber  where  the  sick 
teacher  lay,  his  parched  lips  and  burning  fever 
betokened  too  plainly  the  approach  of  death.  He 
talked  freely  of  his  condition,  and  said  the  doctor 
told  him  he  had  engorgement  of  the  liver;  that 
he  did  not  know  how  serious  his  case  was,  but 
that  he  had  felt  for  some  time  that  his  end  would 
come  suddenly,  'Hhat  he  would  pass  rapidly  away 
after  having  lived  a  life  of  as  much  real  happiness 
as  is  ever  given  to  any  man."  This  w^as  said  with 
intense  emotion  and  revealed  the  fact  that  he  felt 
that  his  condition  was  critical. 

On  Friday  morning  I  visited  him  again,  and  was 
greatly  pained  at  the  marked  change  that  had 
taken  place.  His  whole  appearance  was  different. 
His  face  was  rigid,  and  his  breathing  labored  and 
painful.  When  aroused  from  his  stupor  he  made 
an  eflbrt  to  greet  me  ^^nth  his  w^onted  brightness 
and  cordiality,  and  said  that  he  felt  better.  During 
the  morning  he  not  only  arose  and  dressed  himself, 
but  prepared  the  monthly  reports  of  his  classes. 
As  tlie  (h\y  advanced,  he  grew  rapidly  worse. 


HIS  DEATH.  267 

He  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  of  the  nearness  of 
his  end ;  but  his  lungs,  always  weak,  had  become 
suddenly  and  hopelessly  congested,  and  he  was  too 
much  enfeebled  to  resist  an  attack  so  acute  and 
powerful.  After  a  brief  struggle,  his  final  relief 
came,  at  nine  and  a  half  o'clock,  on  Friday  night, 
November  29th,  1885. 

No  public  mention  had  been  made  of  his  sick- 
ness, and  even  his  own  family  were  not  expecting 
the  sad  result.  The  news  of  his  death,  therefore, 
was  a  great  surprise.  At  the  College  the  Literary 
Societies  Avere  holding  their  weekly  sessions,  and 
when  a  messenger  brought  the  startling  tidings  of 
his  death,  they  broke  up  in  the  midst  of  tearful 
lamentations. 

The  next  morning  the  Richmond  Despatch  an- 
nounced the  event,  and  the  sorrow  of  the  Rich- 
mond people  was  widespread  and  profound.  As 
the  intelligence  went  abroad  through  Virginia,  the 
general  grief,  especially  among  the  Baptists,  was 
very  deep ;  and  messages  and  letters  of  sympathy 
came  to  the  family  from  every  direction. 

The  funeral  took  place  at  the  Grace  Street 
Baptist  Church  on  Sunday  afternoon.  The 
weather  could  not  have  been  more  unfavorable. 
All  day  the  rain  had  been  pouring  in  torrents, 
and  the  streets  were  filled  with  water.     The  wind 


268  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

was  piercing  and  fierce,  and  it  was  well  nigh 
impossible  to  walk  the  streets,  without  being 
drenched  and  chilled  by  the  driving  rain.  The 
vast  congregation,  which  despite  the  raging  storm, 
thronged  the  building  was  itself  a  significant 
testimony  to  the  honor  and  esteem,  with  which 
Dr.  Brown  was  regarded  by  the  Richmond  people 
— and  yet  it  was  supposed  that  hundreds  were 
kept  away  by  the  violent  weather.  The  trustees, 
the  fiiculty,  the  students  and  many,  many  friends 
entered  the  house  with  the  procession.  I  have 
never  witnessed  a  funeral  service  so  tearful  and 
impressive.  Nearly  all  of  the  Baptist  pastors  of 
Richmond  were  present,  and  took  part  in  the 
exercises.  The  music  was  in  charge  of  a  quartette 
choir  of  students,  assisted  by  Richmond's  most 
beloved  and  consecrated  singer,  Captain  Frank 
Cunningham. 

Prof.  H.  H.  Harris,  the  chairman  of  the  College 
Faculty,  was  in  charge  of  the  exercises,  and  intro- 
duced them  in  fitting  words. 

In  the  place  of  a  formal  sermon,  there  were 
three  addresses.  The  pastor  of  the  Church,  Dr. 
W.  E.  Hatcher,  who  had  been  summoned  hy  tele- 
gram from  Culpeper,  where  he  was  assisting  Rev. 
C.  F.  James  in  a  series  of  revival  services,  was  the 
first  speaker.     He  spoke  as  follows  : 


HPS   DEATH.  2G9 

Let  me  say,  dear  brethren  and  friends,  that  lam  not  worthy 
to  speak  at  such  a  time  as  this.  My  lips  flaint  before  their 
task.  They  cannot  utter  the  anguish  of  my  own  heart,  and 
yet  less  can  they  adequately  speak  the  mournful  sentiment  of 
this  hour.  I  tremble,  lest  I  speak  what  ought  to  remain 
unsaid,  or  withhold  that  which  the  occasion  may  demand. 

Who  could  speak  worthily  of  Israel's  peerless  prince  whose 
pulseless  dust  lies  before  us?  What  words  can  frame  his 
eulogy  whose  worth  belittles  all  praise?  Unique,  original 
and  majestic  when  living,  he  wears  in  death  a  vestment  of 
glory,  which  no  tongue  can  describe.  For  years  he  has  been 
enshrined  in  our  hearts,  and  his  presence  has  been  a  fountain 
of  joy  and  strength.  Now  that  God  has  suddenly  taken  him 
away,  who  can  fittingly  recite  the  story  of  his  life,  or  paint  in 
its  lofty  spiritual  beauty,  his  character  ? 

Such  power  pertains  not  to  me,  and  yet  you  will  bear  with 
me,  as  I  stand  in  my  place  and  offer  my  feeble  tribute  to  his 
worth.  Our  brother  was  a  native  of  Amherst  County.  Truly, 
that  rugged  and  beautiful  old  county,  never  bore  a  princelier 
son,  and  no  son  was  ever  more  proudly  loyal  to  his  native 
hills.  Dr.  Brown  once  said,  "that  God's  plant-bed  for  rearing 
Baptist  preachers,  lay  along  the  eastern  base  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains."  From  that  soil  he  sprang,  and  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time.  Divine  grace  plucked  him  up,  and  transplanted 
him  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  where  his  leaf  never  withered, 
and  whatsoever  he  did,  prospered.  In  his  early  life  he  became 
an  Episcopalian ;  but  a  larger  and  deeper  study  of  God's  Word 
revealed  to  him   a   better   Avay,  and   he   became   a   Baptist. 


270  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Heartily  accepting  the  distinctive  views  of  the  Baptists,  he 
maintained  them  \vith  gentle  and  courageous  devotion,  and 
was  always  happy  in  the  ic'llowship  of  his  brethren.  Uublest 
of  fortune,  and  yet  inlhimed  with  a  quenchless  passion  for 
learning,  he  had  a  sharp  conflict  in  seeking  an  education. 
But  his  purpose  to  attain  unto  generous  culture  was  ovei-- 
mastering,  and  in  the  end  victorious.  His  scholastic 
advantages  were  fragmentary,  comprising  a  year  at  Wash- 
ington College  in  Lexington,  Va.,  and  later,  a  brief  term  at 
our  State  University;  but  what  the  schools  denied  him, 
his  own  inflexible  energy  and  tireless  personal  application 
achieved  for  him.  He  became  a  chief  in  the  family  of 
scholars. 

It  startles  us  to  think  of  him  so  frail  in  body,  so  wedded  to 
books,  and  so  sensitive  to  the  jars  of  life,  beginning  his  minis- 
terial career  as  a  pioneer  in  the  mountains  of  Virginia.  Those 
who  knew  him  as  the  youthful  missionary  are  not  here  to-day, 
but  their  testimony  abides  that  his  life  was  spotless,  his 
spirit  heroic,  and  his  sermons  full  of  gospel  power.  In  the 
rugged  conflicts  of  those  boyish  days,  he  won  the  strength  for 
his  splendid  achievements  in  other  fields. 

Dr.  Brown  first  became  conspicuous  to  })ublic  view,  as  the 
pastor  of  the  Baptist  Cliurch  at  Hampton,  Va.  He  was  then 
in  the  freshness  of  his  ripened  manhood,  and  not  even  the 
blotting  of  old  Hampton  from  the  earth  can  ever  efface  the 
marks  of  his  influence  in  that  community. 

A  lady  told  me  this  morning,  that  she  met  a  grey-haired  old 
man  on  the  street  car  yesterday— one  who  was  a  leading  spitit 


HIS   DEATH.  271 

in  the  Hampton  Church  duvuig  Dr.  Brown's  pastorate.  He 
had  just  heard  of  his  old  pastor's  deatli,  and  unmindful  of  the 
cold  glances  of  those  around  him,  he  was  crying  like  a  child. 

Yesterday  afternoon,  I  passed  through  Charlottesville ;  in 
the  thickening  gloom  of  the  evening,  I  saw  the  tower  of  the 
Baptist  Church  ;  it  reminded  me  of  those  magnificent  times 
when  our  brother  stood  in  the  Charlottesville  pulpit,  and  by 
his  majestic  eloquence  drew  to  his  feet,  as  eager  listeners,  the 
best  brain  and  culture  of  that  classic  community.  I  saw  the 
Albemarle  Institute  in  which  he  taught,  and  thought  of  his 
scattered  pupils  who  once  ennobled  by  his  magnetic  and 
brilliant  life,  were  now  to  be  saddened  by  the  tidings  of  his 
death. 

Dr.  Brown  loved  to  teach.  Twice  he  held  a  professorship 
in  Hollins  Institute ;  and  his  memory  will  forever  be  indis- 
solubly  linked  with  the  history  of  that  Institution,  He  helped 
greatly  to  give  to  that  school  the  lofty  place  which  it  now  has. 
It  was  in  the  dark  days  of  the  war  that  he  finally  bade  adieu 
to  Hollins,  and  entered  the  army  as  a  missionary.  For 
nearly  two  years,  of  his  own  accord,  and  from  a  conviction  of 
duty,  he  slept  in  the  camp,  preached  in  the  open  air,  visited 
in  the  hospitals  and  cheered  the  soldier  boys  in  the  midst  of 
their  denials  and  perils.  When  the  end  came — the  tragic 
disastrous  end  of  the  strife — he  returned  to  his  family  in  their 
little  country  home  in  Pittsylvania  County,  Virginia.  There 
for  fifteen  years,  sometimes  teaching,  sometimes  working  in 
the  fields  for  bread,  all  the  time  the  devoted  teacher  of  his 
own  children,  he  remained.     In  the  midst  of  these  duties  he 


272  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ceased  not  to  declare  the  word  of  God.  As  the  pastor  of 
country  churches  he  was  in  the  best  sense  a  public  benefactor 
— an  example  of  righteousness — a  stimulating,  refining,  uni- 
fying, Christian  force,  and  his  work  so  honestly  done,  will 
long  survive  him.  In  that  community,  his  name  is  the 
synonym  of  purity,  honor  and  fidelity.  While  he  labored, 
he  studied,  and  studying,  grew  to  the  height  of  his  great 
manhood. 

Now  and  then  he  emerged  from  his  rural  retreat,  and 
appeared  in  the  councils  of  his  brethren.  He  came  like  a 
prophet,  anointed  with  celestial  power  and  burning  with  his 
message.  His  words  fell  with  almost  seraphic  power  upon  the 
crowds  which  pressed  to  hear  him.  Some  of  us  remember 
how,  that  in  the  strength  of  the  bread  which  he  gave  us  to  eat, 
we  travelled  for  many  days  in  the  wilderness  of  life. 

Justice  is  tardy,  but  always  sure.  At  last  the  Baptists  of 
Virginia  awoke  to  a  sense  of  his  w^orth,  and  in  1881,  sum- 
moned him  to  duty  in  the  Faculty  of  Richmond  College.  As 
others  are  to  speak  of  him  as  the  college  professor,  I  pass  over 
that  phase  of  his  life  with  the  single  remark  that  those  who 
were  the  most  active  in  securing  his  appointment  will  always 
recall  the  part  they  took  Avith  grateful  satisfaction. 

It  is  always  painful  to  me  to  speak  in  terms  Avhich  to  others 
may  savor  of  exaggeration.  Those  who  did  not  know  Dr. 
Brown  Avill  hardly  forgive  the  almost  boundless  enthusiasm 
and  admiration  with  which  his  friends  regarded  him.  I  say, 
with  a  full  sense  of  my  responsibility,  that  in  many  points  Dr. 
Brown  was   the  greatest   man   that  I  ever  knew.      He  was 


HIS   DEATH.  273 

endowed  with  a  great  mind.  It  was  phenomenally,  excep- 
tionally great — great  in  its  grasp,  great  in  its  penetrating 
power,  great  in  its  power  to  hold  and  surprisingly  great  in  its 
capacity  to  recall,  combine  and  utilize  what  he  knew.  In  the 
extent,  variety,  accuracy,  and  honesty  of  his  learning  he  was 
pre-eminent.  His  shattered  nerves  made  it  painful  for  him  to 
write  and  sometimes  painful  to  speak.  His  sensitive  modesty 
often  sealed  his  lips  when  his  soul  was  on  fire  to  speak.  But 
whether  on  the  platform,  or  in  the  class  room,  or  at  the  fireside, 
he  opened  his  lips,  it  was  the  unsealing  of  a  fountain  of  wis- 
dom and  truth. 

I  do  not  care  to  call  Dr.  Brown  an  orator.  Perhaps  he  was 
not.  The  frailty  of  his  form,  the  occasional  lack  of  volume 
and  distinctness  in  his  voice,  his  untrained  and  sometimes  vio- 
lent gestures  may  have  fallen  below  the  popular  ideal  of  the 
orator.  But  what  he  lacked  in  studied  grace  and  smooth 
speech,  was  more  than  made  up  in  the  fiery  and  impetuous 
torrent  of  his  thought,  the  intense  earnestness  of  his  nature 
and  the  boldness  and  honesty  of  his  bearing.  If  we  are 
to  judge  men  by  the  effect  of  their  public  utterances,  he 
could  easily  stand  the  test.  His  power  with  the  people  was 
wonderful.  I  stood  at  the  gate  of  the  Baptist  Church,  in 
Culpeper,  yesterday,  when  a  distinguished  Presbyterian 
lawyer  approached  me.  I  informed  him  of  Dr.  Brown's 
death.  "  Alas ! "  he  said,  "  one  of  our  greatest  men  has 
fallen.  I  heard  him  preach  in  this  church  what  I  verily  be- 
lieve was  the  most  thrillingly  eloquent  sermon  that  I  have 
ever  heard."     I  remember  well   that  in  his  speech  on  State 


274  I.IFK  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Missions,  before  the  General  Association,  at  Petersburg,  in 
1870,  he  produced  an  impression  which  was  unequalled  by  all 
I  have  heard  in  iuiprcssive  and  overwhelming  power.  When 
he  finished,  the  people  sat  spell-bound  and  in  tears.  As 
another  brother,  after  a  pause,  rose  to  speak,  a  minister  rushed 
out  of  the  house  exclaiming :  "Let  me  get  out.  After  hearing 
Brown,  I  can  hear  nothing  else."  On  other  occasions  his 
power  over  the  people  was  equally  great.  His  eloquence  was 
ripened  thought  steeped  in  holy  passion. 

It  often  happened  that  his  noblest  speeches  were  spiced 
with  a  humor  that  was  exceedingly  chaste  and  gentle.  On 
one  occasion,  I  remember,  his  wit  broke  forth  like  a  flood, 
and  convulsed  his  audience  into  surprised  laughter.  If  not 
an  orator  in  finish  and  art,  he  was  better  than  an  orator 
in  his  sublime  power  to  enkindle  high  sentiment  in  human 
souls. 

Better  even  than  his  ini])erial  mental  gifts,  was  his  nobleness 
of  heart.  I  know  that  it  has  been  said  that  Dr.  Brown  was 
passionate,  and  sometimes  yielded  to  angry  excitements.  Well, 
he  had  a  high  and  impetuous  nature.  His  views  of  rectitude 
and  propriety  were  very  emphatic.  In  his  youth  he  spurned 
evil  with  a  consuming  intensity  which  sometimes  set  fire  to  the 
evil  doer,  and  in  his  sight  discourtesy  was  a  crime.  But  he 
saw  his  fault.  He  put  a  chain  upon  his  fiery  nature.  He  sub- 
dued himself  humbly  before  God.  He  learned  ]iatience  and 
charity,  and  was  gentle.  He  was  like  a  little  child  before  the 
Lord.  His  spirit  was  candid,  forbearing,  magnanimous.  He 
knew  men.    Those  who  fancied  he  was  unobservant  and  undis- 


HIS   DEATH.  275 

criminating  were  greatly  mistaken.  He  knew  what  was  in 
men  in  a  very  remarkable  degree.  But  he  was  kindly  in  his 
judgments  and  niarvelously  cautious  in  his  speech.  He  neither 
spoke  roughly  to  the  offender  nor  severely  to  the  wrong-doer. 
He  loved  peace,  and  sought  always  to  do  what  was  pure  and 
right.     He  was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  no  relation  of  life  did  our  brother  show  to  greater  advant- 
age than  in  his  home.  In  the  mercy  of  God  he  found  in  his 
youth  one  of  the  wisest  and  truest  of  women  for  his  wife,  and  to 
the  end  of  his  days  he  accorded  to  her  that  gracefid  courtesy 
and  unfailing  gallantry  which  he  gave  her  as  a  bride.  He  ruled 
well  his  house — always  receiving  the  prompt  submission  and 
purest  reverence  of  his  children,  and  that,  too,  with  only  the 
gentlest  displays  of  his  authority.  In  him  his  children  had  a 
constant  and  entertaining  companion.  The  gate  of  his  home 
was  always  ajar  for  his  friends.  He  dispensed  hospitality  with 
a  cordiality  so  easy  and  informal  that  his  guests  were  always 
made  hapi)y.  Hundreds  have  tasted  his  bounty  who  will  now 
bewail  his  departure. 

When  he  came  to  Richmond  I  did  not  ask  him  to  unite 
with  this  church ;  but  when  he  gave  me  his  letter,  I  could  not 
refrain  from  expressing  the  joy  which  I  felt  in  his  coming.  I 
did  not  feel  that  I  was  fitted  to  minister  to  him,  but  I  rejoiced 
that  such  a  noble  counsellor  had  entered  our  ranks.  Little, 
indeed,  did  I  know  what  an  unspeakable  blessing  he  would 
prove  to  the  pastor  or  the  Church.  From  the  first,  he  won 
the  love  of  the  people.  They  believed  thoroughly  in  his  good- 
ness and  wisdom.     They  were  always  glad  to  hear  him.     He 


276  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LI.D. 

entered  thomughly  into  the  work  of  the  Church.  His  scat 
was  rarely  vacant,  and  never  without  a  cause.  While  averse 
even  to  tlie  appearance  of  conspicuity,  he  was  ready  for  every 
good  work.  Last  Sunday  week  that  veteran  pioneer  of  our 
State  Mission  Board,  M.  A.  Wilson,  was  invited  to  speak  in 
our  Sunday  School.  Of  course,  he  was  in  quest  of  money  to 
aid  liiin  in  building  a  house  of  worship  in  the  Southwest. 
"Wlien  it  was  proposed  to  send  out  the  baskets  to  receive  the 
gifts  of  the  brethren,  Dr.  Brown  sprang  up  with  his  pocket- 
book  in  hand,  and,  halting  the*collectors,  said,  "Brethren,  let 
us  do  something  worthy  of  us :  here  is  my  gift :  who  else  will 
help?"'  His  words  were  electric,  and  the  money  poured  in 
from  many  quarters. 

Since  I  entered  this  pulj)it,  more  than  ten  years  ago,  to  min- 
ister to  this  Church,  I  have  had  many  discriminating,  helpful, 
responsive  hearei-s.  Many  of  my  sermons  have  been  saved 
from  failure  by  sympathetic  eyes  that  are  now  sealed  in  death. 
But  I  speak  the  simple  truth,  when  I  declare,  that  the  most 
gracious  and  insj)iring  auditor  to  wliom  I  ever  preached  (ex- 
cepting, possibly.  Dr.  Jeter),  was  Dr.  Brown.  Not  only  did 
he  listen  well,  but  almo.st  every  Sabbath  he  renuxined  after  the 
close  of  the  service,  to  utter  some  pleasant  criticism  upon  the 
sermon — none  the  less  pleasant  because  it  was  sometimes 
adverse.  He  never  failed  to  yield  a  cordial  sympathy  to  evei-y 
enterpri.se  of  the  Church,  or  to  every  scheme  of  the  pastor 
which  looked  to  the  honor  of  Christ.  It  is  not  for  me  to 
attempt  to  express  a  sense  of  that  loss  which  has  fallen  on  this 
Church  in  his  death  ;  but  he  leaves  to  us  a  name  that  cannot 


HIS  DEATH.  277 

be  forgotten,  aud  an  example  whose  influence  will  continue  to 
do  its  silent  work. 

His  testimony  in  favor  of  the  Gospel  has  been  to  many  a 
stronghold  of  faith.  He  was  a  philosopher,  in  the  broadest 
Christian  sense.  He  knew  history;  he  had  gone  to  the  bottom 
of  language  and  of  literature.  To  him,  the  theories  and  spec- 
ulations of  men,  in  every  department  of  thought,  were  quite 
familiar.  He  had  measured  the  depths  of  skepticism,  and 
knew  its  strength  and  its  weakness.  He  was  one  of  the  few 
men  who  could  safely  cross  the  line  and  personally  inspect  the 
grim  fortresses  from  which  the  enemies  of  God  hurled  their 
deadliest  missiles.  He  had  made  the  round  of  the  enemies' 
encampments,  examined  their  weapons,  and  measured  their 
strength.  Better  than  any  other  mfu,  who  has  moved  in  our 
midst  during  this  generation,  he  was  able  to  study  the  Christian 
evidences  under  all  converging  lights.  This  he  did,  and  the 
end  was  a  cloudless  faith  in  the  redemptive  work  of  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God.  He  trusted  in  Jesus  as  the  Living  One ;  and 
each  day  saw  him  on  his  knees  and  in  grateful  fellowship  with 
his  Lord.  Many  of  us  are  not  capable  of  grappling  with  the 
devices  of  infidelity.  It  may  start  questions  which  we  can  not 
answer;  but  if  Dr.  Brown,  our  prince  in  scholarship,  believed 
the  Gospel,  we  need  not  doubt  it.  We  can  prop  our  trembling 
faith  with  his  faith  which  never  trembled.  In  that  faith  he 
has  closed  his  life  and  gone  to  be  with  Christ.  Happy  Sabbath — 
unspeakably  happy — has  this  been  to  him :  sitting  beneath  the 
Tree  of  Life  with  his  own  beloved  Poindexter,  Jeter,  Taylor, 
Bagby,  and  Tyree,  and  gazing  entranced  upon  the  glories  of 
his  Redeemer. 


278  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

The  second  speaker  was  Rev.  AA^illiam  C.  Tyree, 
of  Amherst  County,  Ya.,  who  was  chosen  to  repre- 
sent his  fellow  students  on  the  occasion.  Tenderly 
and  appropriately  he  voiced  the  feelings  of  those 
he  represented.  In  the  following  will  be  found 
the  address  of  this  consecrated  and  promising 
young  minister  : 

I  cannot  tell  you  kind  friends  with  what  trembling  em- 
barrassment I  appear  before  you,  at  this  sad  hour.  It  is  with 
no  sense  of  fitness  that  I  come,  but  simply  that  I  may  voice 
the  sorrow  of  my  fellow-students ;  I  may  be  pardoned  for 
saying  that  one  fact,  serves  to  embolden  me  for  my  task.  I  am 
the  son  of  one  who  was  a  life-long  friend  of  Dr.  Brown,  and 
I  feel  that  it  is  an  act  of  filial  piety  to  bring  a  simple  flower  of 
praise,  and  place  it  upon  this  bier.  I  may  add  also,  that 
Amherst,  the  county  of  Dr.  Brown's  nativity,  is  my  adopted 
home,  and  in  no  place,  was  he  ever  more  highly  esteemed. 
The  respect  which  he  won  as  a  boy,  continued  and  grew  until 
his  death.  The  news  that  he  has  passed  away,  will  sadden 
hundreds  of  hearts  in  the  community,  where  he  was  reared. 

But  chiefly  as  a  student  of  Richmond  College,  am  I  here 
to  speak.  It  is  a  poor  tribute  to  our  lamented  teacher  to 
say,  that  he  commanded  the  most  jirofouud  and  affectionate 
admiration  of  the  students.  His  princely  mind,  his  varied 
learning,  his  gentle  spirit,  and  his  transparent  goodness, 
secured  for  him  the  highest  respect.  lie  was  to  us  a  never 
failincr  fountain  of  knowledij-e.     We  never  heard  him  without 


HIS   DEATH.  279 

being  enriched  with  knowledge — and  inspired  with  lofty  jDur- 
poses.  He  was  a  lover  of  truth,  and  those  who  sat  at  his  feet, 
felt  the  contagion  of  his  spirit. 

But  we  loved  Dr.  Brown  as  much  as  we  respected  him. 
He  was  our  friend,  he  was  accessible,  modest,  and  always  ready 
to  help  us.  He  encouraged  us,  while  he  taught  us—  and 
quickened  our  self-respect  by  his  manifest  care  for  our  welfare. 
How  sadly  we  Avill  miss  him !  How  much  of  that  mellow. 
Christian  influence  which  pervaded  the  college  will  depart 
with  him. 

The  sweet  light  of  his  life  will  ever  be  to  us  a  holy  memory 
and  a  precious  incentive.  He  taught  us  how  to  live,  how  to 
study,  how  to  work,  how  to  suffer,  how  to  wait ;  and  now  he 
teaches  us  how  we  must  die.  He  has  closed  his  class-book — 
and  will  call  the  roll  no  more ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  reflect 
that  he  has  gone  to  answer  to  the  roll-call  of  the  skies. 

Fellow-students,  around  the  coffin  of  our  dead  professor  we 
bow  beneath  a  common  sorrow.  Let  us  catch  the  falling 
mantle  of  the  ascending  prophet,  and  wrapping  it  about  us,  go 
forth  to  the  battle  of  life. 

The  third  address  at  the  funeral  was  delivered 
by  Dr.  Brown's  fellow-professor,  Rev.  Wm.  D. 
Thomas,  DD.,  and  richly  deserves  a  place  in 
these  memorial  papers.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
Dr.  Thomas  has  not  been  able  to  furnish  a  copy 
for  publication.  In  its  stead,  we  take  the  liberty 
of  presenting  the  subjoined  sketch,  written  for  the 


280  LIFK  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LI>n. 

College  Messenger,  hy  Prof.  B.  Puryear,  LLD., 
one  of  the  most  tenderly  Icved  friends  that  Dr. 
Brown  ever  had  : 

Our  conimuuity  has  been  most  painfully  shocked  by  the 
sudden  death  of  Dr.  Brown.  The  sad  event  occurred  on 
Friday,  the  27th  November,  at  9:20  P.  ]\I.  Dr.  Brown  was 
on  the  streets  on  Saturday,  the  21st,  in  his  usual  health,  and 
was  engaged  to  preach  the  next  day  at  the  First  Baptist 
Church.  But  with  the  day  came  the  last  sickness  that  was  to 
convulse  his  already  wasted  and  feeble  frame.  He  was  too 
unwell  to  preach,  or  even  to  attend  church.  No  serious  appre- 
hensions, however,  were  enteilained  until  a  few  hours  before 
the  fatal  issue.  Indeed,  he  was  cheerful  and  talkative  on  the 
afternoon  of  his  last  day  on  earth,  greeting  his  friends  with  a 
grateful  smile,  and  begging  them  to  prolong  their  stay.  But 
his  vital  energies  had  been  well  nigh  exhausted  before  sickness 
came,  and  when  it  came,  he  fell,  therefore,  an  ea.sy  prey. 

We  shall  attempt  no  sketch  of  the  life  of  our  departed 
friend  and  instructor.  That  task  we  leave  to  other  and  more 
competent  hands.  "NVe  shall  speak  of  him  only  as  a  college 
professor,  and  as  he  appeared  to  us  in  his  daily  work  and  walk. 

Dr.  Brown  was  indisputably  the  most  intellectual  man  we 
have  ever  known.  His  mind  was  always  actively  at  work. 
We  believe  that  his  physical  system  was  weakened,  and,  at 
length,  undermined  by  his  high  intellectuality.  He  belonged 
to  that  noblest  type  of  philosophers  who  seek  knowledge  at  all 
times  and  everywhere  because  they  love  it.     To  study  and  to 


HIS   DEATH.  -  281 

learn  was  a  necessity  of  his  nature.  The  truth  was  lovely  in 
his  eyes,  and  he  sought  it  eagerly  because  he  loved  it  with  a 
burning  passion.  Whether  his  intellectual  achievements  would 
bring  him  fame,  or  wealth,  or  dignities,  were  matters  that  did 
not  occur  to  him.  Not  these  did  he  seek,  but  simply  and  only 
what  was  true.  And  when  he  discovered  Truth,  he  clasped 
her  as  Goddess  fair,  and  was  thrilled  and  electrified  by  the 
embrace.  Though  he  might  not  hear,  yet  in  his  inmost  soul 
he  felt  the  "  music  of  the  spheres."  To  discover  the  causes  of 
things,  to  trace  the  connections  and  dependencies  of  events,  to 
build  solid  theories  upon  established  facts,  were  the  constant 
and  necessary  occupations  of  his  mind.  And  when  an  intel- 
lectual triumph  rewarded  his  labor,  what  warmth,  and  glow, 
and  ecstacy  suffused  his  face  and  tingled  along  his  nerves ! 
What  seraphic  joy  must  thrill  his  now  unfettered  soul  as  it 
sweeps  the  boundless  Universe,  and .  contemplates,  in  its  multi- 
plied relations  and  magnificent  amplitudes,  the  truth  he  loved 
so  well ! 

With  a  mind  so  vigorous,  so  inquisitive  and  active,  and  de- 
voted through  life  to  scholastic  pursuits.  Dr.  Brown  was,  as 
must  needs  be,  a  prodigy  of  learning.  He  Avas  at  home  in  the 
ancient  and  modern  languages,  in  belles-lettres,  in  history,  in 
philology,  in  sociology,  in  metaphysics,  in  the  positive  and 
exact  sciences,  not  excluding  the  abstruse  mathematics.*  Nor 
did  he  simply  make  forays  into  all  these  fields  of  learning. 
His  acquisitions  were  not  only  varied,  but  accurate,  thorough, 
and  profound.  His  aim  was  to  know,  not  to  seem  to  know. 
Hence,  when  he  grappled  with  any  subject,  he  did  it  exhaust- 


282  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

ivcly,  never  relaxing  his  grasp  until  he  had  conquered  it. 
Hence,  when  he  ■wrote,  or  spoke,  or  lectured,  he  put  the  whole 
domain  of  learniug  under  tribute.  Facts,  illustrations,  prin- 
ciples, from  every  department  of  science  and  of  literature, 
came  trooi)ing  in  marshalled  ranks,  and  ready  for  effective 
service.  His  difficulty  was  not  what  to  say,  but  what  not  to 
say ;  not  what  to  take,  but  what  to  reject.  And  whatever  his 
theme,  and  how  familiar  soever  with  it,  he  threw  into  it  all  his 
powers  at  their  utmost  tension.  It  was  impossible  for  him, 
when  before  an  audience,  to  think  slowly  or  to  think  languidly. 
Facts  and  arguments  whic-h,  falling  from  other  lips,  would 
seem  stale  and  dull,  in  passing  through  the  glowing  alembic 
of  his  mind,  came  out  warm  and  throbbing  with  life,  and  rich 
and  radiant  w'ith  beauty.  And  when  the  effort  is  over,  he  is 
left  pale,  limp,  exhausted.  He  could  do  nothing  except  by 
doing  it  with  all  his  might,  and  hence  the  prostration  which 
attended  all  his  intellectual  efforts.  His  body  suffered  in  these 
fierce  convulsions,  and  finally  succumbed  to  the  terrific  strain. 
Dr.  Brown  never  made  money.  It  was  impossible  for  him 
to  do  it.  His  thoughts  were  too  intent  on  other  and  higher 
things.  He  made  fame,  it  is  true,  but  equally  without  intending 
it.  It  followed  him  ;  he  sought  it  not.  To  his  intimate  friends 
he  was  known  to  be  shrinking  and  tremulous  to  a  surprising 
extent,  and  hence  he  sought  no  occasions  of  display.  He  had 
none  of  that  vulgar  ambition  which  seeks  the  front  and  thrusts 
itself  into  notice.  When  he  appeared  before  the  public,  it  was 
with  a  worthy  purpose,  and  was  satisfied  if  only  his  object  was 
successfully  accomplished. 


HIS   DEATH.  283 

With  his  towering  intellect  and  his  great  learning,  Dr. 
Bro^YU  Avas  as  simple,  as  transparent,  as  artless  as  a  child  ; 
"an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  there  was  no  guile."  In  his 
dress,  manners  and  conversation,  he  was  utterly  unpretentious, 
and  was  as  accessible,  therefore,  as  the  plainest  man  in  the 
work-shop  or  the  field.  Men,  and  all  sorts  of  men,  talked 
with  him  freely  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.  There  was  nothing 
repellent  about  him ;  but  his  unassuming  manner  and  won- 
derful resources  of  thought  and  knowledge  made  him  a 
delightful  companion  to  all  classes  of  people.  Nor  was  it 
difficult  to  find  his  guileless  heart,  his  tender  sympathy,  his 
overflowing  generosity  and  love.  He  practiced  no  tricks,  he 
knew  no  arts,  he  never  deceived  nor  betrayed  a  friend.  In 
what  heart  has  ever  arisen,  from  what  lips  has  ever  fallen,  a 
sentiment  unfriendly  to  Dr.  Brown? 

He  is  gone;  gone  to  the  bosom  of  his  God,  whom  he  served. 
We  have  lost  our  "  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend."  A  void 
has  been  made  in  our  midst,  which  none  can  fill.  In  the  lonely 
vigils  of  the  night,  we  recall  our  friend,  and  bemoan  our  loss. 

Quis  desiderio  sit  piidor  aut  modus 
Tarn  cari  capitis. 

At  the  request  of  the  family,  the  burial  was 
deferred  until  ten  o'clock  next  morning.  At  that 
time,  accompanied  by  the  family,  the  faculty  and 
the  students,  it  was  borne  to  Hollywood,  and 
found  its  resting-place  in  the  college  section.  His 
grave  is  but  a  small  distance  from   the   hill-top, 


284  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

which  is  crowned  with  the  monuments  of  James 
B.  Ta3'lor,  and  the  gallant  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart. 
As  the  body  was  lowered  to  its  resting-place, 
the  pastor  spoke  briefly  of  the  resurrection ;  and 
prayer  was  offered  by  Prof.  Edmund  Harrison. 
After  the  grave  was  filled,  the  saddened  company 
sang  the  sweet  "  Bye-and-Bye,"  and  were  dis- 
missed. 

Dr.  Brown  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  Baptist 
ministers  of  Richmond.  His  delicate  courtesy, 
,  and  never  failing  alacrity,  in  serving  them,  as  well 
as  his  wisdom  as  a  counsellor,  gave  him  a  warm 
place  in  their  hearts.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Rich- 
mond ministers'  conference,  a  few  days  after  his 
death,  Dr.  W.  W.  Landrum,  the  eloquent  pastor 
of  the  Second  Baptist  Church,  was  appointed  to 
voice  their  sorrow  in  appropriate  resolutions — of 
which,  extracts  appear  below  : 

"  1.  The  departure  of  our  brother  leaves  a  wide  gap  in  our 
ranks.  Like  Saul,  the  magnificent  proportions  of  his  stature 
as  a  preacher  of  the  word,  lifted  him  head  and  shoulders  above 
us  all ;  his  were  royal  faculties,  and  his  a  princely  mind.  His 
eloquence  threw  its  spell  over  every  audience  of  every  grade 
of  culture,  from  the  rudest  to  the  most  polished  assemblies. 

"  2.  As  an  educator,  our  brother  stood  among  the  foremost. 
He  was  in  all  his  methods  didactic  by  nature.     He  never 


HIS  DEATH.  285 

made  an  exhortation  till  he  had  first  expounded  a  doctrine. 
He  was  abundant  in  proof,  of  any  position  he  felt  called  upon 
to  assume,  and  as  fecund  in  illustration  to  make  clear  his 
demonstrations  to  the  comprehension  of  the  meanest  intellect. 
*  *  *  *  We  deeply  sympathize  with  Richmond  College 
in  its  irreparable  loss — as  well  as  the  cause  of  sound  learning 
throughout  the  land. 

"  3.  It  was,  however,  most  of  all,  his  life  as  a  simple-hearted 
believer  in  Jesus,  which  drew  the  cords  of  our  affection  closest 
about  the  form  of  Dr.  Brown.  We  shall  never  forget  that 
life.  One  prominent  element  of  his  power  lay  in  his  broad 
sympathies ;  his  great  heart  gave  a  quick  response  to  every 
cry  of  joy  or  sorrow,  which  came  up  from  the  soul  of  the  race.' 
Another  secret,  of  his  forceful  personality,  inhered  in  the 
strength  of  his  convictions.  A  profound  philosophy  couches 
in  the  declaration  of  the  Psalmist, '  I  believed — therefore  have 
I  spoken.'  Dr.  Brown  was  mighty  in  the  fi\ith  of  Christ  and 
the  Gospel,  and  spoke  his  belief  with  commanding  emphasis  ; 
he  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions.     *     *     * 

"  4.  He  tenderly  loved  his  brethren,  and  in  honor  preferred 
them.  In  him  was  no  bitterness,  nor  jealousy,  nor  vaulting 
ambition,  but  instead,  a  warmth  of  fraternal  love  that  would 
have  made  an  enemy  to  be  at  peace  with  him.  His  modesty 
sometimes  approached  a  painful  diffidence.  He  would  blush 
with  confusion  at  the  slightest  mention  of  praise,  and  declare 
with  another,  whom  in  this  respect  he  resembled,  '  I  am  not 
what  I  might  be — I  am  not  what  I  ought  to  be — I  am  not 
what  I  hope  to  be,  but  by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am.' 


286  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLP. 

We  beg  to  offer  the  bereaved  wife  and  children  of  our  dear 
brother,  our  siucerest  sympathy,  and  fraternal  petitions  at  the 
throne  of  the  heavenly  grace.     *     *     * 

"  5.  We  i)\iice  these  expressions  on  record  for  preserva- 
tion," etc.,  etc. 

Dr.  Brown  was  one  of  the  most  useful  and  inter- 
ested Trustees  of  the  Richmond  Female  Institute. 
It  was  a  pleasant  custom  with  him  to  bear  public 
testimony  to  its  usefulness,  in  the  higher  education 
of  girls.  This  he  did  in  almost  everj^  public  gath- 
ering in  which  education  was  discussed.  After  his 
death,  a  memorial  service  was  held  at  the  Institute, 
and  a  paper  prepared  by  the  accomplished  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Dr.  II.  A.  Tupper, 
was  read  and  adopted,  expressing  their  appreciation 
of  his  worth,  and  suggesting  that  a  leaf  of  the 
records  of  the  Institute  be  appropriately  dedicated 
to  him.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  want  of  space 
prevents  its  appearance  in  full  in  these  pages. 
Below  will  be  found  a  j^^i't  of  this  admirable 
paper : 

"Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this 
day  in  Israel  ?" 

In  the  death  of  Dr.  A.  B.  Brown,  a  Trustee  of  Richmond 
Female  Institute,  the  cause  of  woman's  higher  education  has 
lost  one  of  its  earliest  friends  in  the  South,  and  perhaps  its 


HIS   DEATH.  287 

most  sympathetic  and  powerful  advocate  in  America.  During 
thirty  years,  this  great  and  good  man  was  identified,  in  various 
ways,  with  institutions  of  learning  for  girls  and  young  women  ; 
and  his  advocacy  of  this  cause,  on  many  public  occasions,  was 
marked  by  originality,  forcefulness,  and  eloquence,  rarely 
equalled,  and  perhaps  never  excelled,  in  the  discussion  of 
woman's  claim  to  severer  mental  discipline  and  broader  scholas- 
tic culture.  Born  himself  with  an  exquisite  nervous  structure 
which  gives  quick  appreciation  of  the  keen  sensibility  and  the 
subtile  intellection  of  that  same  delicate  and  superior  nervous 
structure  in  woman;  confirmed  in  his  convictions  by  long 
experience  in  studying  and  teaching  her,  of  woman's  adapted- 
ness  to  the  highest  development  and  acquisitions  of  mind,  and 
her  peculiar  ability  to  apprehend  moral  truth  and  apply  it  to 
the  problems  of  social  and  religious  life;  and  rejoicing  in  the 
success  which  has  crowned  female  students  in  competitive  tests 
in  celebrated  universities  of  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  he  entered  con  amove  into  the  defense  of  woman  as  a 
momentous  factor  in  the  world  of  thought,  and  a  controlling 
element  in  the  world's  social  and  spiritual  civilization.  There 
was  a  chivalric  generosity  of  nature,  also,  that  inclined  him  to 
such  vindication,  and  made  him  lean,  if  he  leaned  from  the 
perpendicular  of  exact  justice,  to  the  side  of  female  excellence. 
Listening  to  that  matchless  tribute  to  woman,  worthy  of  an 
appreciative  student  and  competent  judge  of  the  sex  that  pro- 
duced a  George  Eliot  and  an  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning, 
not  to  name  others  nearer  home,  made  at  Warrentou,  before 
the  Baptist  General  Association  of  Virginia,  the  auditor  was 


288  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BUOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

at  a  loss  to  know  wliicli  to  admire  more,  the  fair  extolled,  or 
the  gallant  extoller  whose  deference  to  his  subject  suggested 
the  greatness  of  that  master  of  logic,  J.  Stuart  INIill,  ^vhcn 
he  protested  that  his  own  best  thoughts  were  derived  from  a 
-woman ;  and  the  greatness  of  the  nobler  Apollos,  mighty  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  eloquent  when  he  gladly  submitted  himself 
in  Ephesus  to  be  led  more  perfectly  in  the  way  of  the  Lord 
by  the  Paul  disciplined  Priscilla  of  Rome. 

And  who  that  followed  Dr.  Brown,  on  such  occasions,  need 
be  reminded  of  the  profound  impressions  made  by  that  mar- 
velous combination  of  analytical  acumen,  philosophic  accu- 
racy, breadth  of  research,  and  wealth  of  illustration  ;  all  fired 
by  intense  earnestness  which  characterized  his  grand  utter- 
ances, and  embalmed  them  in  the  life-long  memory  of  his 
hearers  ?  It  is  said  that  the  author  of  the  Iliad  and  Odissey  left 
unused  no  figure  furnished  by  physical  nature  for  the  original 
use  of  his  successors  in  the  divine  art.  After  one  of  those 
splendid  creations  of  oratorical  genius,  which  came  from  the 
lips  of  our  now  speechless  Chrysostom,  like  full  armed  Minerva 
from  the  brain  of  Jupiter,  who  ever  thought  that  he  had  a 
word  to  add  by  way  of  argument,  embellishment,  or  appeal  ? 

Yet,  the  great  things  he  did  seemed  unconsciously  done,  as 
the  converse  of  Carlyle's  principle,  that  consciousness  is  the 
test  of  imperfection;  and  in  resemblance  to  the  tapestry- 
workers  of  Paris,  who,  Avith  eyes  fixed  on  the  pattern  above 
their  heads,  do  not  see  the  glorious  work  in  silver  and  gold 
wrought  by  their  skillful  hands. 

But,  Dr.  Brown  was  not  luerely  a  champion  of  woman  and 


HIS  DEATH.  289 

of  woman's  culture — a  kind  of  clerical  "ladies'  man,"  that 
may  have  given  rise  to  the  witticism  of  England's  most  caustic 
wit,  that  there  are  three  sexes,  men,  women  and  preachers. 
Dr.  Brown  was  a  manly  man — the  manliest  of  men — a  king 
among  men.  Though  angular  in  frame — alas!  too  frail  for 
the  titanic  machine  it  encased — he  was  in  character  many- 
sided  and  Avell  rounded.  He  was  a  philosopher,  a  divine,  a 
Professor  in  Richmond  College.  He  was  a  college !  One  of 
the  most  intellectual,  brainiest,  and  fullest  men  of  Richmond 
has  said,  that  Dr.  Brown  was  the  most  brain-stimulating, 
brainy,  and  brimful  man  he  ever  knew.  When  one  touched 
him  intellectually,  it  was  like  touching  a  galvanic  battery. 
The  severest  charge  that  could  be  brought  against  him — 
already  suggested — was  the  charge  that  Charles  II.  brought 
against  a  distinguished  contemporary,  that  he  had  the  unfair- 
ness, in  his  consideration  of  all  subjects,  of  leaving  nothing  io 
be  said.  But,  Dr.  Brown  was,  withal,  a  courtly,  Christian 
gentleman. 

And,  was  there  not  something  unique  in  the  greatness  of 
this  man?  He  was  a  power  in  himself  and  in  his  God,  without 
the  factitious  abetment  of  popular  notoriety  or  reputation. 
The  most  prominent  hotel  proprietor  of  Halle  had  never  heard 
of  the  world's  most  illustrious  Hebraist,  after  the  death  of 
Gesenius,  Dr.  Tholuck  of  Halle  University.  *         * 

In  the  far  South,  there  is  a  tree  that  ranks  the  live-oak  in 
majesty,  and  yet  is  covered  with  flowers  spotless  as  the  driven 
snow  and  fragrant  as  the  breezes  wafted  over  the  fields  of 
Araby.     This  magnolia  is  nature's  fit  emblem  of  the  united 


200  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

powers  and  graces  of  such  a  planting  of  Jehovah  as  that  lately 
transplanted  from  earth,  and  planted  in  the  garden  of  the 
Lord.  "And  he  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season;  his  leaf  also 
shall  not  wither,  and  whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper." 
Whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper;  for  his  life,  "hid  with 
Christ  in  God,"  is  identified  with  the  tree  of  life  that  flourish- 
cth  on  the  banks  of  "the  river  of  life  proceeding  from  the 
Throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb," 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  291 


HIS   CHARACTER. 


An  eminent  historian  has  said  that  the  biosrra- 

a 

pher  ought  first  to  ascertain  what  the  world  did 
for  the  man,  and  then  what  the  man  did  for  the 
world. 

In  pursuance  of  this  order,  as  indicated  in  the 
introductory  of  this  volume,  I  have  endeavored  to 
show  the  reader  how  the  influences  of  heredity 
and  environment  on  the  gifted  A.  B.  Brown, 
helped  him  to  attain,  by  successive  gradations  to 
the  synthesis  of  his  development,  as  the  devout 
and  scholarly  Professor  of  Richmond  College.  It 
now  only  remains  to  show,  what  return  he  has 
made  in  contributing  to  the  betterment  of  man- 
kind. And  in  order  to  do  this  faithfully,  it  wdll 
be  necessary  to  take  a  view  of  the  man  as  he 
was — w^ith  his  peculiarities,  his  powers  and  his 
influences — to  make  of  his  character,  at  least  a 
partial  analysis. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  although  he  became 
a  leader  in  the  intellectual  world  in  which  he 
moved,  and  was  one  of  those  representative  men 


292  LIFE  OF  A.  n.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

of  which  Macanhay  speaks,  who  occupy  the  front 
rank  of  the  age — he  did  not  leave  to  posterity 
any  memorial  of  his  genius,  save  his  addresses 
and  sermons,  some  of  which  appear*  in  this  volume. 
His  power  for  good  was  so  thoroughly  the  out- 
come of  his  character,  that  in  order  to  estimate 
the  value  of  the  former,  we  must  understand  the 
latter. 

Of  the  dual  nature  God  gives  to  man — the  ma- 
terial and  the  spiritual — Dr.  Brown  possessed  much 
more  of  the  latter  than  the  former.  The  one  was 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  other.  If  his  ability 
had  been  gauged  by  his  pounds  avoirdupois,  it 
would  have  been  below  mediocrity. 

In  stature,  he  was  tall  and  slender.  His  face 
rather  dark  in  complexion,  and  rugged  in  his  fea- 
tures, Avas  ridged  with  marks  of  intense  thought- 
fulness.  His  dark  auburn  hair  displayed  few 
streaks  of  gray,  though  his  thin  beard  was  tipped 
with  snow.  His  movements  were  remarkably 
nervous  and  decisive.  To  strangers,  his  appearance 
was  not  attractive ;  but  to  those  who  once  felt  tlie 
tlnill  of  his  power  and  the  gentleness  of  his  char- 
acter, there  was  always  a  spiritual  beauty  in  his 
countenance. 

The  late  Dr.  Richard  Fuller  said  of  a  distin- 
guished Southern  preacher,  that  God  gave  him  a 


HIS  CHARACTER.  293 

great  soul,  and  he  gave  him  a  great  body  to  keep 
it  ill.  The  same  could  not  have  been  said  of  Dr. 
Brown.  There  seems  to  be  truth  in  the  remark 
of  Dr.  Puryear,  that  his  spiritual  forces  were  con- 
sumed by  the  spiritual  fires  of  his  being.  Burns, 
Byron,  and  Poe  degraded  their  higher  natures  by 
yielding  to  the  sordid  cravings  of  their  lower ;  but 
Dr.  Brown  sacrificed  his  body  at  the  altar  of  the 
soul. 

In  manner,  he  was  exceedingly  courteous  and 
respectful  to  all — notably  so  to  those  who  were  his 
inferiors.  He  had  a  cordial  grasp  and  a  hearty 
shake  for  the  child  or  the  student,  as  well  as  the 
professor.  His  sense  of  honor  was  exceptionally 
high ;  and  in  early  years  he  could  not  brook  the 
want  of  it  in  others.  His  nature  was  full  of  sen- 
sibility and  tenderness ;  his  heart  and  purse  were 
ever  open  to  the  sorrowing  and  unfortunate.  He 
could  be  melted  to  tears,  in  recounting  the  evi- 
dences of  God's  favor  to  him,  in  reciting  a  favorite 
poem,  or  in  listening  to  a  plea  for  help  from  the 
worn  missionary,  whose  labors  he  so  well  appreci- 
ated. It  is  said  of  him,  that  once  in  his  English 
class,  while  reading  of  the  treatment  of  King  Lear 
by  his  children,  he  was  so  overcome  with  emotion, 
that  he  had  to  stop. 

Underlying  the  colossal  structure  of  character 


294  LIFE  OF  A.  13.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

that  Dr.  Brown  erected  for  himself,  were  the  basal 
stones  of  simplicity,  transparency,  and  honesty  of 
pnrpose.  llis  habits  as  a  young  man  were  above 
reproach,  and  when  he  attained  to  old  age,  he  had 
no  bitter  memories.  Blameless  and  guileless,  none 
could  ever  accuse  him  of  double-dealing.  He 
sometimes  stumbled  and  fell  into  pitlalls,  but  it 
only  made    him   the   more  watchful    afterwards. 

Conspicuous  in  the  galaxy  of  his  shining  traits, 
was  his  humility.  He  felt  himself  the  least  among 
his  brethren. 

It  seems  strange  that  a  man  of  such  wondrous 
gifts  and  graces  did  not  receive  a  more  grateful 
reception  at  the  hands  of  the  w^orld.  This,  per- 
haps, is  explained  in  part  by  his  lack  of  self-assert- 
iveness.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  enter  the 
unseemly  struggle  for  place.  Had  he  courted  pro- 
motion, he  might  have  won  it :  though  it  must 
have  been  at  the  expense  of  that  unsullied  modesty 
which  w^as  one  of  the  crowns  of  his  life.  Then, 
too,  he  was  always  ready  to  sacrifice  himself  in 
the  interest  of  others.  At  one  time,  he  w\as  prom- 
inently mentioned  in  connection  with  a  vacant 
professorship  in  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
institutions  in  the  State.  The  position  was  pecu- 
liarly attractive  to  him,  and  he  did  not  disguise 
his  hope  of  securing  it.     It  came  to  pass,  that  he 


HIS   CHARACTER.  295 

learned  that  a  beloved  friend  of  his  was  an  appli- 
cant for  the  same  position,  and  instantly  he  deter- 
mined to  withdraw,  and  gave  his  influence  in  favor 
of  the  appointment  of  his  friend.  He  was  an 
expert  and  an  enthusiast  in  advancing  others  to 
honor;  but  he  never  understood  the  art  of  pro- 
moting himself. 

To  give  the  reader  a  fair  estimate  of  Dr.  Brown's 
mental  capacity,  is  a  task  far  beyond  the  ability 
of  the  writer,  yet  something  must  be  undertaken 
in  that  direction.  He  was  liberally  endowed  with 
mind.  The  intellect,  the  sensibilities  and  the 
will  seemed  to  exist  in  perfect  harmony,  and 
almost  equal  proportions.  Some  men  are  gifted 
in  one  or  two  of  these  departments ;  few  in  all. 
And  in  intellect  itself,  when  we  come  to  analyze 
it,  we  find  it  difiicult  to  decide  whether  he  was 
greatest  in  perception,  reason,  memory  or  imagina- 
tion. Gifted  above  many,  his  great  intellect 
reached  out  in  every  direction  for  mental  pabulum 
— upon  which  to  subsist.  He  developed  sym- 
metrically and  rapidly,  but  not  without  great 
hindrances. 

It  is  said  of  Ruskin  that  he  was  born  in  wealth, 
trained  in  the  best  schools  and  colleges,  and  that 
he  traveled  all  over  the  country  by  rail  and  in 
carriages,  visiting   cathedrals,  palaces,  etc.;   and 


296  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

living  too,  at  a  time  of  a  great  art  revival,  he 
would  have  been  grossly  culpable  if  he  had  failed 
to  be  a  master  in  his  chosen  profession.  Not  so  with 
Dr.  Brown,  though  helped  in  early  life  by  a  self- 
sacrificing  father  to  a  good  academic  training,  he 
struggled  hard  to  obtain  the  means  for  a  college 
and  university  course. 

By  dint  of  energy,  and  the  vigor  of  his  faculties 
he  became  one  of  the  most  profound  scholars  of 
the  age.  The  theoretical  question  discussed  by 
Sir  Wm.  Hamilton,  as  to  whether  ''Truth"  or 
"Search  after  truth,"  yielded  the  most  happiness 
was  ever  a  moot  point  with  him.  The  greater 
part  of  his  studying  was  done  after  he  left  school; 
he  was  a  student  all  of  his  life.  There  prevails 
among  the  immature,  and  uncultured,  and  with 
some  degree  of  plausibility,  the  idea,  that  the 
beginning  of  life  is  for  acquiring,  and  the  latter 
part  for  enjoying  what  has  been  acquired,  and 
for  dispensing  it  to  others.  While  this  is  a  truth, 
it  is  only  a  partial  truth;  the  whole  of  this  life 
is  but  a  preparation  for  another ;  time  is  but  a 
training-school  for  eternity.  Yie  are  all  pupils  in 
the  school  of  providence.  But  few  recognize  this 
fact;  and  fewer  still,  put  Ibrth  the  special  efforts 
to  make  constant  advancement  in  every  depart- 
ment of  being.      We  cannot  repair,  except  to  a 


HIS  CHARACTER.  297 

limited  extent  the  constant  wastes  of  the  physical 
constitution,  but  we  can  make  real  progress  in 
the  mental  and  spiritual,  through  the  whole  pro- 
gress of  the  journey.  Dr.  Brown  in  one  of  his 
sermons  quoted  as  his  talisman,  the  words  of 
Paul,  "For  I  count  not  myself  as  having  attained." 
His  wife  says  of  him  that  in  their  early  married 
life,  he  was  such  a  constant  student,  she  would 
sometimes  take  his  books  from  him  ;  but  she  soon 
found  that  his  habit  of  study  was  so  essential  to 
his  happiness,  that  she  ceased  to  attempt  an 
estrangement  between  him  and  his  books.  When 
he  had  no  new  books,  he  reread  his  old  ones. 
During  the  war,  he  lost  the  most  valuable  books 
of  his  library — the  very  cream  of  it.  This  was  a 
great  sorrow  to  him,  but  he  said  that  it  became 
the  means  of  his  being  more  familiar  with  those 
he  had  left  home. 

His  craving  for  knowledge  knew  no  bounds. 
He  loved  only  what  was  pure.  He  carefully 
avoided  the  sensational  and  unhealthy.  His  love 
of  books  grew  in  intensity;  he  never  ceased  to 
enjoy  the  works  of  the  ancient  writers,  and  was  as 
conversant  Avith  their  views  as  with  many  of  the 
authors  of  the  present  day,  Cicero,  Homer,  Thu- 
cydides  and  Plato,  were  familiar  friends.  Those 
who  have  read  the  addresses  in  this  volume  must 


298  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD, 

have  noticedj'the  ease  with  which  he  makes  classi- 
cal quotations. 

Dr.  BroAvn  was  not  a  poet,  but  if  he  had  lived 
in  the  age  of  poetry,  it  is  likely  that  he  would 
have  composed  blank  verse.  Some  of  his  sublimest 
strains  were  poetry  in  all,  except  "poetry's  metri- 
cal music."  His  vivid  imagination,  his  delicate 
sensibilit}^,  his  sjanpathy  with  nature  in  all  her 
moods,  his  keen  appreciation  of  "the  true,  beau- 
tiful and  good  " — his  classical  learning  and  great 
genius,  would  have  needed  only  the  touch  of 
inspiration  to  make  him  a  great  poet.  His  love 
of  nature  was  marked ;  especially  of  mountain 
scenery.  Not  many  years  before  he  died,  he  went 
again  to  his  old  mountain  home  in  Amherst.  Tlie 
friend  who  accompanied  him  said,  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  could  get  him  to  proceed  on  the 
journey,  that  he  would  halt  the  driver  at  almost 
every  turn  of  the  road  to  get  another  mountain 
view.  He  said  that  Dr.  Brown's  joy  was  so  great 
on  seeing  his  native  hills  again,  that  he  exclaimed, 
"If  I  could  live  among  these  grand  old  mountains, 
I  would  live  ten  years  longer."  Though  he  was  a 
master,  he  counted  himself  a  student. 

Stone,  the  celebrated  mathematician,  was  the 
son  of  the  gardener  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle.  When 
he  was  asked  how  he  acquired  so  much  of  mathe- 


HIS  CHARACTER.  299 

matics  and  of  the  languages,  with  such  poor  oppor- 
tunities, he  said,  "  that  he  knew  the  alphabet, 
and  that  all  the  knowledge  he  gained  afterwards, 
was  a  natural  sequence."  Chatterton  said,  "  God 
made  men's  arms  long  enough  to  reach  everything 
in  the  world."  The  alphabet  is  the  key  that 
unlocks  the  storehouse  of  all  knowledge.  Given 
it,  and  the  love  of  truth,  with  a  steady  industry, 
and  success  is  assured.  Dr.  Brown  was  an  inde- 
fatigable worker — but  his  mental  labor  was  no 
drudgery,  it  was  one  of  the  sources  of  his  happi- 
ness. He  was  a  great  lover  of  poetry,  and  entered 
into  the  conceptions  of  the  author  w^ith  a  keen 
relish.  Milton,  seems  to  have  been  his  most 
admired  poet.  He  loved  to  follow  him  in  his 
loftiest  flights,  and  gaze  with  him  from  the  watch- 
towers  of  human  learning,  upon  the  rich  fields  of 
truth  spread  out  to  view.  It  was  his  custom  to 
read  at  family  worship  on  Christmas  day — the 
"  Ode  on  the  Nativity  of  Christ." 

As  a  metaphysician.  Dr.  Brown  stood  without  a 
peer  among  his  brethren.  He  loved  to  grapple 
abstruse  questions — to  cast  them  into  the  crucible 
of  his  own  master  mind,  subjecting  them  to  the 
most  severe  analysis — passing  by  the  dross  of 
error  for  the  refinings  of  truth,  which,  when  ob- 
tained, were  like  ingots  of  gold,  that  would  pass 


300  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

current  anywhere  in  the  marts  of  thought-exchange. 
With  the  ancient  systems  of  philosophy  he  was 
wonderfull}^  conversant.  Not  less  so  Avith  the  new 
doctrines  of  infidelity.  He  was  invited  once  to 
make  reply  to  a  certain  blatant,  notorious  public 
lecturer.  He  armed  himself  for  the  task,  but  on 
account  of  the  feebleness  of  his  health,  he  begged 
off  from  the  performance  of  it.  Concerning  evolu- 
tion, he  used  to  say,  that  there  was  not  a  particle 
of  proof  given  in  its  favor;  that  it  was  an  unproved 
proposition,  and  not  a  demonstration;  and  that 
the  dogmatic  assertions  of  the  evolutionist  prove 
nothing. 

He  was  greatly  distinguished  as  a  metaphysi- 
cian, but  not  less  so  as  a  linguist.  Without  the 
aid  of  a  teacher,  he  learned  the  languages  of 
German,  Hebrew,  Sanskrit,  Anglo-Saxon,  Spanish, 
and  Italian;  having  learned  French,  Latin,  and 
Greek  at  school.  He  read  in  the  different  tongues, 
not  only  to  learn  the  construction  of  the  language, 
but  to  get  at  the  literature  of  the  people.  He 
loved  language,  and  was  an  accomplished  philolo- 
gist. It  was  a  favorite  pastime  with  him,  when 
his  children  would  gather  around  him  in  his  library, 
to  interest  them  in  some  word,  and  occupy  them 
in  tracing  its  etymology.  He  knew  the  laws  gov- 
erning all   languages — how   that  they  proceeded 


HIS  CHARACTER.  301 

from  the  same  roots — and  it  was  an  easy  matter 
for  him  to  learn  a  new  one.  The  Italian  language 
was  the  last  one  learned.  The  writer  remembers 
to  have  seen  him,  a  few  weeks  before  his  death, 
reading  from  an  Italian  Pilgrim's  Progress.  He 
remarked  that  he  had  learned  the  language  with- 
out the  use  of  a  dictionary,  and  when  one  was 
offered  him,  he  replied,  "  No,  thank  you !  I  do 
not  need  it  now."  One  of  the  finest  novels  ever 
written,  "I  Promessi  Sposi,"  was  taken  from  the 
library  to  be  carried  to  him,  when  it  was  found 
that  he  was  too  sick  to  read  it.  His  taste  was  so 
discriminating,  that  his  judgment  on  books  was 
often  sought. 

It  is  said  that  when  his  brother  Joseph,  who 
had  decided  literary  tastes,  would  visit  him  in  his 
country  home,  it  Avas  his  wont  to  read  Hebrew 
and  Greek  with  him,  under  the  shade  of  the  Avide- 
spreading  oaks.  He  loved  to  get  the  truth  in  its 
"unshrunken  roundness,"  as  he  expressed  it.  He 
took  great  pains  to  instruct  his  children  in  the 
languages.  He  did  not  often  trust  them  to  any 
one  else ;  at  least  till  he  had  thoroughly  grounded 
them  in  the  rudiments.  It  is  said  that  those  he 
first  instructed  in  Latin,  never  had  any  trouble 
with  it  afterwards. 

For  mathematics,  he  had  special  aptitude  and 


302  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

peculiar  fondness.  He  loved  so  much  to  solve 
difficult  problems,  that  he  would  get  the  students 
to  give  him  their  originals,  that  he  might  have  the 
pleasure  of  working  them.  He  turned  to  mathe- 
matics for  recreation  when  tired  of  other  mental 
labor.  His  mind  went  through  the  steps  so  rapidly 
and  so  naturally,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  one 
could  be  made  to  believe  that  in  mathematics  he 
was  not  a  specialist.  It  had  such  a  fascination  for 
him,  that  sometimes  he  would  work  on  a  difficult 
problem  far  into  the  night  before  being  aware  of 
it.  It  was  his  delight  to  assist  the  struggling  stu- 
dent. If  he  did  not  ask  his  help,  he  would  seek 
him  out,  and  offer  it.  In  his  last  sickness,  he  sent 
for  one  of  the  boys  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
help,  to  come  to  his  chamber,  that  he  might  assist 
him  in  his  lessons. 

If  we  would  probe  to  the  bottom  of  a  man's 
character,  we  must  draw  aside  the  curtain,  and 
study  him  in  the  retirement  of  his  home.  There 
he  drops  the  arts  and  conventionalities  of  society, 
and  reveals  his  inner  life.  In  that  realm  he  is  the 
master ;  and  masters  wear  no  masks.  In  his  de- 
portment toward  wife  and  child  he  will  inevitably 
expose  the  reigning  elements  of  his  character.  If 
he  is  gentle  toward  his  inferiors,  patient  in  the 
midst  of  the  jars  and  disorders  of  the  home ;  if  he 


HIS   CHARACTER.  303 

is  strong  even  when  chafing  under  the  cruelties  of 
unprincipled  men,  and  if  he  is  cheerful  under  losses 
and  afflictions,  we  know  at  once  that  the  spirit 
that  is  in  him  was  born  from  above. 

Mr.  John  B.  Williams,  a  ministerial  student  at 
Richmond  College,  who  boarded  in  his  family  a 
part  of  two  years,  says  : 

Dr.  Brown  was  one  of  the  most  indulgent  fathers  I  ever 
knew.  He  was  gentle  and  affectionate,  both  to  his  children 
and  his  wife,  whom  he  so  tenderly  loved.  He  spent  much 
of  his  time  in  prayer.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see 
him  in  his  library  on  his  knees.  It  was  his  custom  to  pray 
at  family  worship  for  his  absent  children  by  name.  At 
such  times  he  never  prayed  for  himself  The  hour  for 
worship  Avas  always  an  interesting  one.  He  would  read 
the  text  in  different  languages — sometimes  Greek,  sometimes 
Hebrew,  Latin,  or  French — and  would  usually  comment 
on  it  as  he  read. 

The  servants  always  liked  him.  He  never  allowed  any- 
thing to  excite  or  worry  him.  He  lived  above  the  ordinary 
frictions  that  beset  household  machinery.  An  old  colored 
woman  who  had  lived  with  him  a  long  time,  said  the  reason 
why  "  Marse  Abram,"  never  troubled  about  anything  was  that 
thoughts  were  "  way  up  yonder."  He  seemed  to  find  most  ot 
his  enjoyment  in  spiritual  and  mental  exercises.  My  life  in 
his  home  was  a  most  happy  one,  and  his  help  to  me  was 
invaluable,  both  as  a  friend  and  teacher. 


304  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Thanks  are  clue  to  Miss  Linda  Brown,  Dr. 
Brown's  eldest  daughter,  an  accomplished  gradu- 
ate of  the  Richmond  Female  Institute,  for  valuable 
services  rendered  the  writer  in  collecting  details, 
arranging  manuscript,  etc.  She  was  much  in  the 
companionship  of  her  father,  often  reading  for 
and  studying  with  him,  and  the  j^icture  she  pre- 
sents of  his  home-life  is  not  in  the  least  overdrawn. 
Eead  what  she  says  : 

What  my  father  said  of  his  father's  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  his  children,  can  be  said  most  truthfully  of  him.  He  was 
as  kind  and  sympathetic  as  a  mother,  and  at  the  same  time 
exacted  implicit  obedience.  He  rebuked  very  sharply  at 
times,  but  I  think  he  never  had  to  correct  one  of  his  children 
for  disobedience.  Never  Avas  a  father  more  tenderly  loved 
and  revered.  He  used  to  tell  with  a  great  deal  of  fatherly 
pride  about  his  eldest  son,  Carson.  When  he  was  only  a  little 
over  three  years  old  he  would  take  him  out  to  look  at  the 
new  building  at  Hollins,  but  during  its  erection  he  was  called  to 
Lynchburg,  and  told  Carson  not  to  go  near  the  building  whilst 
he  was  gone.  So  the  little  fellow  would  go  and  sit  on  the 
stile,  which  separated  the  yard  from  the  new  building,  and 
watch  the  men  at  work,  but  could  not  be  induced  to  go  out  in 
the  yard.  One  of  the  workmen  told  father  on  his  return,  that 
he  tried  his  best  to  persuade  him  to  come  over  near  the  house, 
but  he  would  only  shake  his  head  and  say,  "  No,  papa  said 
I  must  not  go  there  whilst  he  was  gone." 


HIS  CHARACTER.  305 

He  enjoyed  having  his  children  around  him ;  and  even  when 
they  were  quite  small,  preferred  sitting  in  mother's  room  to 
occupying  his  study.  Their  talk  and  noise  never  disturbed 
him  as  long  as  they  were  in  a  good  humor;  but  crying  he 
never  allowed.  He  thought  fretting  was  injurious  and  useless : 
and  we  knew  by  the  time  we  were  two  years  old  that  he 
wouldn't  stand  that. 

He  was  a  great  lover  of  nature,  and  would  take  his  children 
to  walk,  when  he  would  call  their  attention  to  the  beauties  of 
nature,  to  the  forms  of  the  leaves  of  the  different  trees,  and  to 
the  flowers ;  also  to  the  animals. 

He  would  take  part  in  their  games,  one  of  which  he  was 
particularly  fond,  called  Logomachy,  or  word  making. 

He  was  considered  as  homely  by  most  people,  but  such  was 
the  admiration  that  his  children  had  for  him,  they  could  not  bear 
to  hear  any  one  say  that  their  father  was  not  goodlooking. 

Father  was  at  home  with  all  the  poets,  and  must  have  read 
a  great  deal  of  poetry  in  his  earlier  days,  as  he  repeated  from 
memory,  very  frequently,  line  after  line,  and  was  very  happy 
in  his  quotations. 

His  children  thought  he  had  a  splendid  voice,  and  loved 
dearly  to  hear  him  sing.  He  used  to  sing  some  of  Burns' 
national  songs  with  so  much  pathos,  it  was  impossible  to  listen 
to  him  and  not  be  melted  to  tears.     One  of  his  favorites  was 

"Scots  wha  hae  wi'  "Wallace  bled, 
Scots  wham  Bruce  has  aften  led, 
.  Welcome  to  your  gory  bed. 
Or  to  victory,"  etc. 

In  this  connection,  it  must  be  stated  that  he 
always  sang  in  the  morning,  on   awaking,  some 


306  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

familiar  hymn.  It  was  usually  a  hymn  of  thanks- 
giving and  praise.  He  was  very  happy  in  his 
home-life.  His  children  were  named  Alexander 
Carson,  Willie,  Wimbish,  Eddie,  Linda,  Fannie, 
Luther,  and  Minnie.  Devoted  to  his  wife,  always 
ready  to  tell  of  her  good  qualities,  he  gave  her  the 
courtly  attention  of  a  lover.  lie  desired  no  affilia- 
tion with  the  details  of  housekeeping.  And  it  was 
a  blessed  relief  to  him  that  his  wife  relieved  him 
of  all  care  in  that  line.  He  furnished  the  means, 
but  she  invested  it.  She  was  the  financier  of  the 
household.  He  was  so  much  occupied  with  the 
''  pursuit  after  truth,"  that  the  making  of  money 
was  a  matter  of  secondary  importance  to  him. 
Gold  had  less  glitter  for  him  than  any  one  I  ever 
saw.  Like  Agassiz,  he  was  content  for  others  to 
make  it.  He  said,  not  long  before  he  died,  in  a 
public  speech,  near  his  home,  "  that  the  lines  had 
fallen  to  him  in  pleasant  places."  He  rejoiced 
that  he  had  never  had  a  death  in  his  family.  He 
looked  for  the  most  of  his  earthly  enjoyment 
within  the  folds  of  his  own  family  circle.  He 
never  liked  to  have  his  children  stay  long  away 
from  home.  One  of  his  daughters  was  pressed  to 
take  a  position  to  teach,  and  when  asked  as  to  his 
views  about  it,  said,  "  Why,  my  child,  do  you  want 
to  go ;  are  you  tired  of  home  ?"  No  doubt  he  felt, 
at  tim3s,  the  tightening  hold  of  disease  on  him, 


HIS   CHAEACTER.  307 

and  that  his  time  with  his  family  was  limited,  and 
appreciated  them  all  the  more  on  that  account. 

It  is   a  matter  of  regret   that  so  few  of  Dr. 
Brown's  letters  have  been  gotten.    These  are  only 
given  as  specimens. 
j^         ,y        ^  Peytonsburg,  July  10th,  1883. 

I  congratulate  you  on  your  marriage !  All  that 
I  know  of  your  wife  is  altogether  in  her  favor.  Bring  her 
down  to  see  us  as  soon  as  possible.  Assure  her  that  my  son's 
wife  shall  be  treated  as  my  daughter. 

You  know  how  I  have  rejoiced  that  my  family  circle  has 
so  long  been  unbroken  by  death.  You  know,  too,  with  what 
reluctance  I  have  submitted  to  the  partial  relaxing  of  home 
ties  by  the  unavoidable  separations  which  business  necessities 
have  required.  Please  write  to  us  frequently,  and  visit  us  as 
often  as  you  can.  I  have  long  prayed  for  you  as  a  member 
of  my  own  household  absent  on  business.  I  shall  not  cease  to 
pray  for  you,  but  you  have  now  your  own  household,  and 
must  rear  your  own  altar.  You  will  need  prayer  and  Chris- 
tian principle  to  sustain  you  in  properly  discharging  your  new 
duties.     May  you  be  a  faithful  and  affectionate  husband. 

*  ^  *  :^  ^  :{(.  :^ 

Be  sure  to  bring  Lillie  to  see  us  as  soon  as  you  can  make 
an  opportunity.     Express  my  parental  love  to  her. 
Yours  with  unaltered  and  unalterable  affection. 

A.  B.  Brown. 

Richmond,  Va.,  March  26th,  1884. 
My  Dear  Daughter  : 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  truly  filial 
letter,  and  I  welcome  you  most  heartily  into  your  new  relation. 


308  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BEOWN,  T)D.  LLI). 

Eddie  lias  been  a  most  dutiful  son.  Pie  has  in  him,  in  large 
measure,  all  the  elements  of  the  best  of  husbands.  I  im- 
plicitly rely  on  your  affection,  your  interest  and  your  sound 
discretion  to  aid  in  evoking  and  develoi)ing  them. 

Usually,  and  I  suppose,  altogether  properly,  the  most  inti- 
mate relations  of  a  young  husband  and  wife  are  with  the 
wife's  family.  But  you  have  no  near  relatives,  and  you  will 
naturally  seek  father  and  mother,  sisters  and  brothers  in  my 
family.     I  trust  you  will  find  them. 

Tell  Eddie,  and  ask  him  to  inform  Willie,  that  Carson  is 
suffering  from  rheumatism  ;  I  hope  not  seriously,  but  I  know 
not  to  what  extent.  He  is  in  solitude  and  his  spirits  are 
probably  low.  I  hope  that  they  will  keep  themselves  informed 
about  his  condition.  *  *  :^  H^  * 

In  conclusion,  I  hope  you  will  win  Eddie  to  a  more  pro- 
nounced and  decided  Christian  life.  The  elements  of  true 
religion,  I  doubt  not,  are  in  him,  but  they  have  been  less 
active,  certainly  less  manifest  than  I  could  wish  them  to  be. 

You  and  he  would  greatly  delight  us  by  an  early  visit. 
Notify  us  of  it,  if  you  can;  but  if  an  opportunity  suddenly 
exhibits  itself,  be  not  afraid  of  taking  us  by  surprise. 

Your  father,  A.  B.  Brown. 

It  seems  appropriate  to  introduce  here  the 
subjoined  paper  from  the  Professor  of  Greek, 
H.  H.  Harris,  who  is  also  the  Chairman  of  the 
Faculty  of  Richmond  College.  Among  the  many 
friends  of  Dr.  Brown,  none  knew  him  better  or 
enjoyed  more  of  his  friendship. 


HIS  CHARACTER.  309 

When  Dr.  Brown  came  to  Charlottesville,  in  1859,  there 
was  in  his  congregation  a  certain  University  student,  who  was 
a  graduate  in  the  school  of  Greek,  and  had  pursued  a  course 
of  post-graduate  study.  The  new  pastor  somehow  heard  of 
the  student,  sought  him  out,  and  with  complimentary  allu- 
sions to  his  supposed  attainments,  stated  that  he  himself  had 
some  little  knowledge  of  Greek,  but  would  like  to  refresh  his 
acquaintance  and  get  up  with  any  recent  advances  in  philology. 
The  young  collegian  was  highly  flattered,  and  readily  accepted 
an  invitation  to  spend  an  hour  at  the  parsonage  every  Thurs- 
day afternoon. 

One  of  Plato's  Dialogues — a  grand  discussion  by  the  most 
sublime  of  ancient  philosophers — was  selected  to  begin  with, 
and  on  the  appointed  day  the  student,  having  taken  the  pre- 
caution to  read  over  a  few  pages,  went  down  with  a  comforta- 
ble sense  of  his  own  importance.  After  a  little  pleasant 
bantering  as  to  whether  teacher  or  pupil  should  begin  the 
recitation,  the  so-called  teacher  was  induced  to  commence 
turning  the  Greek  into  English.  But  stop  a  moment,  a 
question,  presently  another,  and  then  another.  "  Why  is  this 
tense  used  ?  why  this  peculiar  position  ?  what  is  the  meaning 
of  this  root,  and  what  are  its  forms  in  the  cognate  tongues  ? 
Is  this  sound  philosophy?  what  led  Plato  into  it?  how  might 
he  have  escaped?  How  does  this  form  of  expression  com- 
pare for  excellence  with  Hamilton's  close-fitting  sesquipedalian 
terms,  or  Kant's  cumbrous  compounds,  or  Cousin's  clear-cut 
analyses?  "  Such  are  samples  of  the  queries  which  came  thick 
and  fast.     Some  pertained  to  the  usual  lines  of  grammatical 


310  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

study,  more  "vvere  entirely  new,  and  many  as  bright  and 
startling  as  a  flash  of  lightning.  In  less  than  half  an  hour, 
as  any  one  who  knew  the  two  men  might  have  anticipated,  the 
relation  of  teacher  and  pupil  was  entirely  reversed.  The  one 
had,  indeed,  more  familiarity  with  the  forms,  a  sort  of  speaking 
acquaintance,  as  it  were,  with  the  Greek  words,  and  could  make 
fair  progress  on  the  beaten  track  of  the  scholastic  curriculum  ; 
the  other  knew  far  better  what  he  did  know,  saw  deeper  into 
all  he  learned,  and  was  ever  leaping  over  the  strait  bounds  of 
school  routine  to  revel  in  the  rich  fields  of  original  research, 
or  roam  the  breezy  heights  of  speculative  thought.  At  the 
end  of  the  hour,  not  more  than  two  dozen  lines  had  been 
read,  but  one  of  the  two  had  learned  a  great  deal.  The 
readings  were  kept  up  several  months,  and  usually  followed 
by  tea  and  an  hour  of  social  conversation. 

Thus  began  a  friendship  which  deepened  and  strengthened 
through  two  years  of  residence  together  in  Charlottesville,  was 
knit  by  occasional  meetings  after  our  paths  diverged  in  1861, 
and  ripened  into  intimacy  when  they  brought  us  together  again 
alter  twenty  years.  Then  was  true  to  the  letter  what  Tennyson 
had  sung : 

"  The  path  by  which  we  twain  did  go, 

Which  led  by  tracts  that  j)lcascd  us  well, 
Through  four  sweet  years  arose  and  fell 
From  flower  to  flower,  from  snow  to  snow  ; 

"  But  where  the  path  we  walked  began 
To  slant  the  fifth  autumnal  slope 
As  we  descended,  following  Hope, 
There  sat  the  shadow  feared  of  man." 


HIS  CHARACTER.  311 

We  had  met  almost  daily  in  his  class-room  or  in  mine,  at 
my  home  or  at  his,  had  sat  together  in  the  house  of  God  and 
taken  sweet  counsel  about  the  common  faith,  and  our  com- 
panionship ended  only  when  it  was  my  sad  privilege  to  catch 
his  last  words  and  close  his  glazing  eyes.  Ended?  Nay, 
rather  was  it  not  merely  interrupted  for  a  little  while, 
to  be  resumed  in  that  true  spiritual  converse  which  as  far 
transcends  the  dreams  we  read  in  Plato  as  the  dim  starlight 
of  heathen  hope  is  surpassed  by  the  full-orbed  rays  of  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  ? 

Others  have  written  of  Dr.  Brown  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  a 
Christian ;  as  scholar,  and  teacher,  and  preacher.  My  part 
will  be  to  add  to  the  wreath  a  modest  flower,  by  mentioning 
some  of  his  prominent  characteristics  as  a  personal  friend. 
They  will  be  found  worthy  of  all  imitation. 

First,  then,  he  was  critical.  Some  men  cannot  see  either 
faults  in  a  friend,  or  excellencies  in  an  opponent.  Dr.  Brown 
saw  both  in  every  man.  This  will  seem  hardly  credible  to 
many  who  enjoyed  his  acquaintance.  They  never  heard  him 
speak  ill  of  his  neighbor;  they  never  knew  him  to  criticise. 
But  a  moment's  reflection  on  his  keen  insight  and  his  judicial 
habit  will  make  it  evident  that  he  must  have  discerned  in  our 
poor  humanity  weakness  as  well  as  strength,  faults  intermixed 
Avith  virtues. 

That  he  entertained  a  real  respect  f<ir  men  whom  he  felt, 
nevertheless,  bound  to  oppose,  and  that  he  gave  them  full 
credit,  both  for  sense  and  for  sincerity,  was  patent  to  all  who 
ever  heard  him  in  public  debate  or  in  private  discussion.    His 


312  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BllOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

uniform  courtesy  was  phiiiily  not  the  mere  tinsel  of  external 
and  acquired  politeness ;  that  would  have  been  torn  to  shreds 
by  the  impetuous  torrent  of  his  emotions.  His  p  >liteness  was 
the  sterling,  hearty,  Christian  grace  of  esteeming  others  better 
than  himself.  He  always  sought,  and  therefore  always  found, 
good  in  everybody,  and  habitually  talked  rather  about  the 
good  than  about  the  evil  that  might  be  with  it.  Like  the 
miner  digging  for  gold,  he  allowed  no  shining  grain  to  escape 
his  notice,  but  gave  little  heed  to  the  sand  or  the  mud  in  which 
it  was  embedded.  This  it  was  that  made  his  eulogies  so  appro- 
priate and  so  satisfactory  to  friends,  without  the  addition  of 
any  flattery. 

That  he  also  saw  the  faults  and  foibles  of  his  friends  is 
equally  true.  He  did  not  talk  about  them  to  others,  but  to 
themselves,  on  proper  occasions ;  and  this  so  gently,  that  his 
reproof  was  an  "oil  upon  the  head."  When  Aveakness  or 
mistake  had  caused  a  fall  and  made  a  wound  in  the  character 
of  one  he  loved,  he  would  not  entrust  it  to  the  slow  medication 
of  time,  to  leave  an  ugly  scar ;  nor  would  he  plaster  over  the 
surface,  and  expose  the  system  to  pysemia.  With  womanly 
tenderness  he  probed  to  the  bottom,  poured  in  the  healing 
balm,  and  then  closed  the  gash.  Oh,  for  more  of  such  friends, 
able  to  see  our  faults,  and  yet  not  make  them  worse  by  rude 
and  painful  prodding ;  but  to  give  us  real  help  in  getting  rid 
of  them. 

Secondly,  he  was  sympathetic.  With  far  more  truth  and 
depth  of  meaning  than  Roscius  could  conceive,  Dr.  Brown 
miuht  have  said :   Homo  sum  et  nil  humanum  a  me  alienum 


HIS  CHARACTER.  313 

puto.  "  I  am  a  man,  and  nothing  human  count  I  as  alien  to 
myself."  No  matter  what  his  engagement,  he  was  ready  to 
listen  to  a  cry  for  help,  and  no  matter  what  the  trouble,  he 
could  enter  into  it.  What  another  might  have  laughed  at  as 
weakness,  he  pitied,  as  being  himself  also  weak.  What  to 
another  might  have  been  unintelligible,  and  would  therefore 
seem  imaginary,  he  could  fully  realize.  His  own  lot  was,  in 
some  outward  respects,  a  hard  one ;  sometimes  misunderstood, 
often  unappreciated,  never  blessed  with  a  competency  of 
worldly  goods,  always  having  to  struggle,  he  was  yet  not  at  all 
soured,  but  only  led  to  driak  deeper  of  the  spirit  of  the  Man 
of  Sorrows,  and  to  become  as  many-sided  in  heart  as  he  was 
in  mind.  Few  others  who  girded  on  the  lamb-skin,  as  the 
badge  of  a  Free  and  Accepted  Mason,  ever  learned  more 
fully,  or  practiced  more  completely,  "  the  principles  of  our 
order — friendship,  morality  and  brotherly  love."  Few  were 
ever  more  ready  to  heed  the  signal  of  distress,  in  whatever 
form  or  from  whatever  source  it  might  come. 

A  touching  testimony  was  borne  to  the  universal  love  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  students  of  Richmond  College.  A 
solemn  stillness  fell  on  all  when  the  news  of  his  unexpected 
death  spread  through  the  halls.  There  were  no  sports,  no 
merry  laughing  for  days ;  but  all  spoke  with  teai'ful  eyes  and 
bated  breath,  and  all  followed  in  sad  procession  to  his  burial, 
each  feeling  that  he  had  lost  a  personal  friend. 

Lastly,  he  was  eminently  helpful.  This  follows,  of  course, 
from  what  has  been  said  already.  His  purse,  though  never 
Avell-filled,  was  never  so  empty  that  he  would  not  relieve  the 


314  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

bodily  ^vants  of  the  poor.  In  his  pastorates  his  advice  was 
sought  on  all  sorts  of  questions,  and  proved  singularly  valuable. 
In  the  Faculty  of  the  College  there  was  no  better  adviser  of 
young  men,  in  the  perplexities  that  often  involve  them,  nor 
any  more  frequently  called  on  for  help  out  of  difficulties  with 
a  Latin  construction,  a  Greek  etymology,  an  equation  in 
conic  sections,  or  a  moot  point  in  metaphysics;  and  the 
aid  he  gave  Avas  free,  and  at  the  same  time  judicious  and 
helpful  to  a  habit  of  self-reliant  work.  Nor  was  there  any 
other  to  whom  his  colleagues  would  apply  with  more  free- 
dom, or  more  certainty  of  valuable  aid.  One  of  them 
used  to  say  that  he  earned  his  salary,  even  if  he  had  done 
no  teaching,  simply  by  his  constant  stimulation  of  the  other 
professors. 

But  his  chief  delight,  and  his  greatest  excellence  as  a  friend 
was  in  helping  any  who  might  be  clouded  with  fears  about 
their  spiritual  condition,  or  tossed  with  doubts  about  the 
authority  of  revelation.  Restless  as  the  billows  on  the  surface 
of  the  ocean  was  his  tireless  activity  of  mind,  running  to  every 
zone,  catching  every  breeze,  washing  every  shore ;  calm  and 
serene  as  its  unshaken  depths  were  the  foundations  of  his 
simple-hearted  trust  in  Christ  Jesus.  From  this  standpoint 
he  marked  the  currents  of  opinion  and  estimated  the 
winds  of  doctrine,  and  so  could  point  out  a  sure  reck- 
oning for  the  tempest-tossed,  a  firm  anchorage  for  the 
unstable. 

Let  me  close  by  appropriating  another  canto  from  England's 
laureate,  in  memoriam  of  his  friend : 


HIS   CHARACTER.  315 

Heart  affluence  in  discursive  talk 

From  household  fountains  never  dry ; 
The  critic  clearness  of  an  eye, 

That  saw  through  all  the  Muses'  walk ; 

Seraphic  intellect  and  force 

To  seize  and  throw  the  doubts  of  man  ; 
Impassioned  logic,  which  outran 

The  heaven  in  its  fiery  course; 

High  nature  amorous  of  the  good, 

But  touched  with  no  ascetic  gloom ; 

And  manhood  fused  with  female  grace 
In  such  a  sort  the  child  would  twine 
A  trustful  hand,  unasked,  in  thine, 

And  find  his  comfort  in  thy  face ; 

All  these  have  been,  and  then  mine  eyes 
Have  looked  on  :  if  they  looked  in  vain 
My  chance  is  greater  who  remain, 

Nor  let  thy  wisdom  make  me  wise. 

As  a  conversationalist,  he  was  the  charm  of 
the  social  circle;  like  Addison,  he  preferred  to  talk 
to  a  single  individual  at  a  time ;  but,  like  Dr. 
Johnson,  could  entertain  a  room  full,  when  drawn 
out  from  his  hiding-place.  His  conversation  was 
always  instructive  and  suggestive,  often  gleaming 
with  bright  flashes  of  wit,  and  sparkling  with  the 
efflorescence  of  truth.  If  he  was  talking  in  a 
room  where  there  were  other  talkers,  by  degrees 


316  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

the  liiini  would  subside,  and  he  -would  remain  the 
only  speaker.  At  times  he  would  become  so 
deeply  absorbed  in  the  topic  under  discussion, 
as  thought  after  thought  would  come  trooping  up^ 
to  his  mind's  eye,  that  he  w^ould  entirely  forget 
liis  surroundings.  After  one  of  these  intense 
mental  excitements,  he  would  suddenly  awake  to 
find  that  his  extraordinary  vehemence  was  an 
occasion  of  merriment.  Sometimes  when  he  and 
Professor  Hart  were  on  a  high  controversial  tilt,  in 
the  dining-hall  of  the  Albemarle  Institute,  he 
would  pile  his  plate  with  biscuits,  taking  from 
every  servant  that  offered  them ;  and  sometimes, 
he  would  stop  in  the  street  with  a  friend,  and 
gesticulate  in  the  most  decisive  manner,  to  the 
amusement  of  passers-by.  I  never  knew  one  to 
be  so  completely  the  slave  of  thought  as  he  was. 
Rev.  John  B.  Williams  gives  the  foUow^ing  inci- 
dent which  illustrates  this  fact :  "  The  last  time 
the  Dan  River  Association  met  with  the  Hunting 
Creek  Church  in  Halifax,  Dr.  Brow^n  reached  the 
Church  but  a  few  minutes  before  the  introductory 
sermon  was  to  be  preached.  It  was  soon  ascer- 
tained that  the  one  appointed  to  preach  the 
sermon  would  not  be  present,  and  it  was  decided 
to  invite  Dr.  Brown  to  take  his  place.  He  tried, 
.as  usual,  to  show   that  almost  any  body   suited 


HIS   CHARACTER.  317 

better  than  he  did,  but  all  in  vain.  At  last  he 
consented,  with  the  understanding  that  he  should 
be  allowed  time  enough  to  take  a  little  walk, 
and  collect  his  thoughts  before  the  sermon.  He 
started,  and  while  walking,  was  so  absorbed  in 
his  sermon,  that  he  forgot  where  he  was,  and  was 
lost  in  the  forest.  Some  of  the  brethren  suspected 
that  to  be  the  trouble  and  set  out  to  look  for  him. 
They  soon  found  him  and  brought  him  back.  He 
walked  right  up  in  the  pulpit,  and  preached  one 
of  the  finest  sermons  ever  listened  to." 

The  reader  has  had  abundant  evidence  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  of  Dr.  Brown's  ability  as  a  preacher. 
As  a  theologian,  he  was  sound  and  logical.  He 
was  invaluable  to  the  students  of  Richmond  Col- 
lege, who  came  under  his  influence.  He  sought 
to  indoctrinate  them  scripturally,  and  watched 
them,  as  they  entered  on  their  fields  of  labor,  with 
eager  interest.  He  believed  in  the  Bible,  in  its 
entirety,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  the  new 
theories  that  seek  to  mutilate  it.  Surely  the  tes- 
timony of  one  so  thoughtful,  so  discriminating, 
and  so  learned,  is  not  to  be  despised.  The  Bible 
was  his  daily  text-book,  which  he  studied  with 
ever-increasing  assiduity.  He  read  it  in  many 
languages,  but  his  Greek  Testament  was  perhaps 
his   favorite    book.     It   is    said  that  no  accurate 


318  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

estimate  can  be  made  of  the  number  of  Greek 
Testaments  he  wore  out  in  his  saddle  pockets 
when  a  country  pastor.  Ofttimes,  just  before 
leaving  home,  he  would  put  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  family  to  hunt  up  the  etymology  of 
some  word  that  he  had  neglected  to  search  for  in 
the  preparation  of  his  sermon. 

Read  what  Dr.  Andrew  Broaddus,  of  Caroline, 
Va.,  whose  style  as  a  writer  is  as  pure  and  trans- 
parent as  his  own  Christian  character,  says  : 

Dr.  Brown's  mind  was  pre-eminrutly  analytical,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  it  Avas  distinguished  by  an  acumen — a  power  of 
penetration  and  a  comprehensiveness  of  grasp  uuequaled  in 
the  ministry  in  any  denomination  in  the  State. 

The  thread  of  his  reasoning  followed  a  proposition  with 
unerring  accuracy,  through  the  most  intricate  windings  of  a 
laljyrinth,  to  its  ulliuiute  conclusion,  while,  as  he  went  on,  his 
keen  eye  penetrated  to  its  depth  every  side  passage  that  opened 
into  the  main  track  of  thought.  He  saw  a  subject  in  all  its 
bearings,  and  could  trace  it  in  all  its  connections,  and  for- 
getting that  others  were  not  gifted  with  his  intellectual  acute- 
ness,  he  sometimes  pursued  an  abstruse  line  of  reasoning  along 
which  many  of  his  hearers  could  not  follow  him.  His  style 
Avas  eminently  didactic.  It  was  copious,  but  not  diffuse ; 
elevated,  but  not  stilted;  accurate,  but  not  formal.  Public 
speakers  maybe  divided  into  tliree  classes:  first,  those  who, 
while  speaking  are  thinking  only  of  themselves — who  are  all 


HIS   CHARACTER.  319 

the  time  sayiug  to  themselves,  "  Didn't  they  think  that  was 
sublime!"  "They  must  have  regarded  that  as  very  eloquent;" 
"  They  cannot  but  think  I  am  a  great  wit,"  and  so  on.  Then, 
there  are  those  who  think  only  of  the  effect  of  what  they  are 
saying  on  their  hearers,  and  who  are  constantly  asking,  in 
their  own  minds,  "  Will  they  accept  that  truth?"  "  Will  they 
be  convinced  by  that  argument?"  "Will  they  be  moved  by 
that  appeal  ?"  etc.  Then,  again,  there  are  those  who  become 
so  absorbed  in  the  subjects  they  are  discussing,  that  they 
are  rendered  almost  entirely  oblivious  of  their  hearers,  and  of 
their  surroundings.  This  was  frequently  the  case  with  Robert 
Hall,  and  I  think,  not  uufrequently  the  case  with  Dr.  Brown. 
Though  he  was  very  much  annoyed  by  any  disturbance  in  the 
congregation,  yet,  when  the  people  were  orderly  and  attentive 
he  sometimes  became  so  swallowed  up  by  his  subject,  as  to 
forget  where  he  was,  and  what  he  was  doing.  On  one  occa- 
sion I  saw  him,  while  preaching,  come  from  behind  the  desk 
and  stand  in  front  of  it  on  the  narrow  moulding  at  its  base, 
holding  on  to  the  desk  behind  him  with  both  hands,  so  as  to 
keep  from  falling,  and  continuing  to  preach  as  if  he  had  been 
standing  on  the  floor  of  the  pulpit. 

In  character  and  deportment.  Dr.  Brown  was  the  most 
unassuming  man  of  prominence  I  ever  knew.  He  always 
took  the  "lowest  room,"  and  hence  his  brethren  always 
delighted  to  urge  him  to  "go  up  higher."  He  never  lost  the 
engaging  simplicity  of  childhood,  and  of  him  it  might  be  said 
as  truthfully  as  of  any  one  the  writer  has  ever  known,  "  behold, 
an  Israelite  iudeed,  in  whom  there  is  no  guile."    It  is  thought 


320  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

by  some,  that  superior  intellectual  gifts  are  usually  coupled 
with  a  cold  heart ;  that  the  light  of  the  intellect  dazzles,  but 
does  not  warm.  If  this  be  generally  true  (and  on  that  point 
I  here  express  no  opinion),  Dr.  Brown's  case  certainly  formed 
a  marked  exception.  His  heart  was  as  warm  as  his  intellect 
was  brilliant.  His  hearty  grasp  of  the  hand  and  his  cordial 
words  of  greeting  furnished  an  index  of  his  genial,  loving 
nature.  A  lady  of  my  acquaintance,  who  is  herself  adorned 
with  no  ordinary  attractions  of  person,  mauneis,  mind  and 
heart,  says  she  always  liked  to  meet  Dr.  Brown  on  the  street, 
because,  instead  of  bowing  or  lifting  his  hat,  as  he  passed  on, 
after  the  manner  of  most  town-people,  he  stopped,  and,  seizing 
her  hand  in  his  cordial  grasp,  he  accosted  her  with  a  beaming 
smile  and  pleasant  words  of  greeting. 

In  intellect  and  heart,  in  motive  and  aim,  in  character  and 
conduct,  Dr.  Brown  was  a  man  among  a  thousand. 

A.  B. 

Spakta,  Va.,  December  23. 

He  aimed  at  thoroughness  in  everything  he 
undertook.  His  own  thoughts,  though  fresh  and 
suggestive,  had  to  be  supported  by  undisputed 
authority.  On  this  account  his  sermons  abounded 
with  gems  of  thought  and  vivid  illustrations  of  the 
classic  and  recondite  order.  Prof  Hart  says  his 
imagination  was  his  highest  gift.  Certain  it  is,  that 
his  thoughts  were  often  lit  up  by  brilliant  imagery 
that  captivated  the  hearei  by  its  forceful  applica- 


HIS   CHARACTER.  321 

tion.  One  not  accustomed  to  close  consecutive 
thinking  might  not  always  follow  him  entirely; 
but  he  was  so  eminently  a  Gospel  preacher,  that 
the  listener  was  sure  to  gain  real  benefit.  His 
gestures,  considered  in  the  light  of  all  prede- 
termined lines  of  grace,  were  awkward — though 
his  most  appreciative  auditors  thought  them  en- 
tirely fitted  to  his  thoughts.  His  appearance  to 
the  stranger  hearing  him  for  the  first  time,  might 
not  be  specially  attractive ;  but  to  those  who  could 
receive  real  truth  as  it  came  freshly  hewn  from 
the  quarry  of  God's  providence  and  grace,  no 
greater  intellectual  and  spiritual  feast  could  be 
offered  than  to  listen  to  one  of  his  thoroughly  pre- 
pared sermons.  It  is  a  matter  of  real  regret  that 
none  of  his  printed  sermons  or  addresses  do  him 
justice,  for,  though  he  wrote  the  line  of  thought  he 
was  to  follow,  he  always  trusted  to  the  inspiration 
of  the  moment  for  help  in  his  closing  sentences ; 
and  often  his  best  thoughts  came  to  him  fresh 
while  on  his  feet. 

The  following,  furnished  by  the  eloquent  pas- 
tor of  Court  Street  Church,  of  Portsmouth,  is  a 
brilliant  extract  from  the  celebrated  Petersburg 
speech : 

Dr.  Brown  was  not  only  a  profound  scholar,  but  he  was  a 
profound  thinker.     He  had  mastered  a  vast  army  of  other 


322  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

men's  thoughts ;  but  he  marshaled,  and  disciplined,  and  uni- 
formed them  by  his  own  genius,  so  that  when  he  led  them 
forth  they  were  as  irresistible  as  the  Macedonian  phalanx. 
He  discovered  many  solid  and  beautiful  stones,  out  of  which 
he  built  the  temple  of  his  thoughts,  but  the  architecture  was 
his  own  conception,  and  the  polishing  and  carving  were  the 
work  of  his  own  hands. 

Dr.  Brown  was  especially  felicitous  and  impressive  in  his 
illustrations.  His  illustrations  were  not  only  strikingly  beau- 
tiful, but  they  were  clothed  in  the  purest  and  grandest 
language.  One  I  remember  with  especial  pleasure,  as,  at  the 
time  I  heard  it  drop  from  his  lips,  it  thrilled  me  with  an 
ennobling  emotion.  He  was  delivering  an  address  on  the  work 
of  the  State  Mission  Board,  before  the  General  Association  of 
Virginia,  during  its  session  in  the  city  of  Petersburg,  in  1871. 
The  idea  he  desired  to  impress  upon  his  brethren  was  that  of 
mutual  support.  The  missionaries  were  at  the  front;  those  of 
us  in  the  rear  should  freely  give  them  our  support,  and  he 
said:  "Mr.  President — I  suppose  the  battle  of  Gettysburg 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Confederacy.  At  the  time  that 
Pickett's  Division  made  its  splendid  charge,  the  angel  of 
history  hovered  over  the  scene  to  write  down,  a  nation  is  born; 
but  the  division  which  was  to  support  Pickett's  failed  to 
respond,  and  the  broken  squadrons  of  the  Northern  army 
rallied,  and  plucked  from  their  hands  their  hard-earned 
victory ;  and  that  angel  turned  away  with  tears  of  iron,  and 

with  a  pen  of  fate,  wrote,  the  lost  cause." 

A.  E.  Owen. 


HIS   CHARACTER.  323 

But  the  best  has  not  been  told.  His  strength 
lay  in  his  inner  life.  His  soul  drank  deep  and 
copious  draughts  from  the  well  of  salvation.  He 
was  not  only  a  Christian  in  name,  but  a  living 
embodiment  of  the  religion  of  our  Lord.  He  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  prayer.  It  was  no  unusual 
thing  for  one  of  his  familj^  to  enter  his  library  and 
find  him  on  his  knees.  The  influence  of  his  piety 
pervaded  the  household,  calming  and  subduing  all. 
It  is  indeed  rare  to  see  intellectual  and  spiritual 
attainments  existing  in  the  same  individual  in 
equal  proportions.  Those  who  knew  him  best, 
hardly  knew  which  to  admire  most,  his  mighty, 
ripened  intellect,  or  his  devout,  unselfish  spirit. 
The  one  heightened  the  other.  Hugh  Miller  says 
that  the  literary  world  would  never  have  known 
a  John  Bunyan  if  his  religious  emotions  had  not 
been  so  powerfully  stirred.  Activity  of  religious 
feelings  quickens  intellectual  activity. 

Col.  Thomas  J.  Evans,  one  of  Richmond's  most 
popular  lawyers,  writes  of  him  in  the  church  and 
home.  It  is  a  loving  tribute  from  one  of  his  best- 
loved  friends  : 

Some  men  are  great  ouly  ou  great  occasions  and  on  great 
subjects.  Dr.  Brown  was  great  on  these  occasions,  and  on 
what  are  considered  small,  as  well. 

This  paper  will  treat  of  him  briefly — and,  oh,  how  imper- 


324  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.     ' 

feotly — in  the  Sunday-school,  in  the  pew,  in  the  social  circle, 
and  in  his  liorae. 

Great  man  as  he  was,  he  regarded  it  no  condescension  to 
teach  a  class  of  young  men  in  the  Sunday-school.  Always 
punctual  in  his  attendance,  his  class  followed  his  example.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  no  class  ever  had  better 
instruction. 

He  was  regularly  in  his  pew,  and  joined  heartily  in  all  the 
public  exercises  of  the  church.  No  better  listener  was  ever 
seen  in  the  church.  He  seemed  to  drink  in  everything  that 
was  said  and  done,  from  the  giving  of  the  notices  to  the  bene- 
diction, inclusive.  While  others  criticised,  he  always  found 
something  good  in  the  sermon,  and  it  seemed  a  pleasure  to 
him  to  speak  of  that  good.  In  going  down  the  aisle,  after  the 
congregation  was  dismissed,  he  has  been  often  heard,  in  a  short 
sentence,  to  make  a  most  valuable  application  of  some  point 
made  by  the  preacher.  Yes,  in  going  down  the  aisle!  It  was 
not  his  habit,  as  the  manner  of  some  is,  to  rush  out  of  the 
church,  as  if  anxious  to  get  rid  of  the  preacher,  the  people. 
and  the  house  of  God.  No!  He  delighted  to  linger  awhile, 
and  then  walk  slowly  down  ;  stopping,  now  and  then,  and 
shaking  the  hands  of  the  brethren  and  sisters,  and  speaking 
words  of  kindness  to  them. 

His  contributions  to  the  church,  and  the  various  boards 
and  organizations  connected  with  it,  were  systematic  and 
liberal ;  and  whenever  the  public  collection,  for  general  or 
extra  purposes,  was  taken,  he  never  allowed  the  basket  to  pass 
by  him  unnoticed.     Though  not  blessed  with  wealth,  he  was 


HIS   CHARACTER.  325 

ever  generous  in  his  gifts.  The  last  act  of  his  life,  in'  the 
House  of  God,  was  a  generous  gift. 

In  the  social  circle  he  was  charming.  Here,  as  in  church, 
he  was  a  good  listener,  never  monopolizing  the  conversation. 
When  drawn  out,  however,  he  was  a  wonderful  talker.  He 
was  not  a  speech-maker  in  conversation  ;  he  talked.  Full  of 
information  and  original  thought,  he  never  failed  to  interest 
and  instruct  any  company  of  which  he  formed  a  part.  The 
writer  of  this  humble  tribute  remembers  to  have  been  in  a 
social  gathering,  a  few  years  ago,  at  which  there  were  present 
two  professors  from  the  Theological  Seminary  (then  at  Green- 
ville), two  professors  from  Richmond  College,  three  pastors  of 
Richmond,  and  one  pastor  from  South  Carolina,  all  of  them 
good  talkers.  Di\  Brown  took  part  in  the  conversation.  He 
had  to  leave  earlier  than  the  others,  and  after  he  left  the 
opinion  was  universally  exjDressed  that  he  was  head  and 
shoulders  above  them  all  in  conversational  power. 

He  enjoyed  a  joke,  even  if  told  on  himself.  The  following 
was  told  on  him  in  a  small  company  at  his  own  house,  at  Avhich 
he  laughed  heartily,  and  said  the  old  sister  was  right.  He  had 
preached  for  the  congregation  of  another  denomination  in 
Richmond,  The  people  were  greatly  pleased  with  the  dis- 
course, and  as  they  came  out  of  the  house  were  speaking 
admiringly  of  it.  On  the  side  walk,  just  at  the  church  door, 
some  ladies  stopped  and  were  praising  the  effort  of  the  preacher. 
A  young  sister  said  to  an  older  one,  "  Was  not  that  a  power- 
ful sermon  ? "    The  response  was,  "  Yes,  powerful  long." 

He  Avas  remarkably  well  posted  about  public  men  and  pub- 


326  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

lie  measures,  and  took  pleasure  in  talking  about  them  to 
his  friends  in  the  private  circle.  Had  he  been  in  Congress 
he  could  have  discussed,  with  credit  to  himself  and  profit 
to  the  country,  the  tariff  or  any  other  revenue  question, 
or  public  measure,  with  Tucker,  or  Randall,  or  Sherman, 
or  Beck. 

In  his  home  he  "was  the  Christian  patriarch,  ruling  and 
reigning  with  love  and  intelligence.  He  was  a  pattern  of  a 
Christian  husband  and  father.  He  regarded  the  hearth-stone 
as  the  corner-stone  of  the  commonwealth.  Others  besides  his 
immediate  family  often  enjoyed  his  home.  He  was  "given  to 
hospitality."  He  greatly  enjoyed  the  presence  of  a  few 
friends  at  his  table,  which  never  groaned  with  a  profusion  of 
viands,  but  displayed  frugality  and  plenty,  dispensed  with  a 
hearty  and  unostentatious  generosity. 

He  enjoyed  his  friends.  But,  oh  !  how  his  friends  enjoyed  him. 
The  little  company  would  retire  to  his  study,  (he  was  not  much 
of  a  parlor  entertainer,)  and  there  around  the  cheerful  fire 
draw  him  out  in  conversation.  It  was  interesting  to  see  him 
smoke  his  pipe,  which  he  did  most  awkwardly.  It  was  edify- 
ing and  interesting  to  hear  his  words,  which  were  well-chosen 
and  flowed  freely.  He  never  gave  his  views  upon  subjects 
with  which  he  was  not  familiar.  On  these,  he  would  seek  the 
views  of  others.  On  a  subject  which  he  had  mastered,  he 
would  go  to  the  very  bottom  roots,  however  far  below  the 
surface — give  us  the  trunk,  then  the  branches,  then  the 
leaves,  and  the  blossoms  and  the  fruit.  If  the  wit  and  wisdom 
of  Dr.  Brown  given  to  such  friends  on  such  occasions,  co"uld 


HIS  CHAlRACTER.  327 

have  been  published,  we  should  have  a  book  superior  to  that 
of  Sydney  Smith. 

His  library  was  not  large,  but  was  well  selected,  and  the 
books  inside  and  outside  showed  that  they  had  been  handled 
and  read.  He  was  once  asked  how  it  was  that  he  had  so 
small  a  library.  He  replied,  "I  never  buy  books  to  ornament 
the  shelves,  and  I  have  more  books  now  than  I  can  read  with 
profit  to  myself  or  benefit  to  others.  The  truth  is,  that  more 
than  half  of  the  books  that  are  published  ought  to  be  burned. 
They  are  either  useless  or  hurtful ;  and  yet  if  men  would  read 
even  half  the  books  they  have  they  would  be  wiser  if  not 
better  men." 

Dr.  Brown  was  a  Free  Mason,  and  was  not  ashamed  of  it. 
He  was  once  asked  by  a  distinguished  DD.  of  his  Church — 
"  Brown,  how  is  it  that  a  man  of  your  good  sense  can  belong 
to  the  Masons  ? "  He  answered,  "  Doctor,  the  feelings  of  my 
heart  prompt  me  to  unite  with  any  organization  of  my  fellow- 
men  which  has  for  its  object  the  amelioration  of  human 
suffering,  the  cultivation  of  fraternity  among  the  human 
race,  the  elevation  of  human  character,  and  which   teaches 

and  practices  lessons  of  charity." 

Thomas  J.  Evans. 
Richmond,  Va.,  March  4,  1886. 

In  reckoning  the  work  wrought  by  Dr.  Brown, 
we  cannot  call  to  our  aid  any  statistical  record 
which  he  ever  kept.  He  never  kept  a  diary,  and 
rarely  furnished  for  the  press  any  record  of  his 
work.      How    many    sermons    he    preached,    how 


328  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

many  souls  were  led  to  Christ  by  his  ministrations, 
how  many  saints  were  inspired  with  loftier  pur- 
poses, how  many  ministers  were  quickened  by 
contact  with  him,  in  all  the  powers  of  their  being, 
how  many  youthful  minds  were  kindled  into  noble 
aspirations,  and  how  many  scholarly  men  were 
cheered  in  their  studies  by  the  force  of  his  exam- 
ple— these  are  questions  which  it  would  be  vain 
to  attempt  to  answer. 

Dr.  Brown  was  not  a  pushing,  noisy  man.  He 
did  his  part  restfully,  and  not  under  the  whip  of 
popular  a})plause.  In  estimating  his  contribution 
to  the  improvement  of  his  race,  we  must  look 
mainly  to  his  character.  He  set  in  motion  influ- 
ences which,  while  silent,  were  potent  and  undy- 
ing. If  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  witli  statistical 
accuracy  the  actual  amount  of  work  which  he 
performed,  it  is  yet  more  impossible  to  calculate 
the  influences  which  silently  flowed  from  his 
strono;  aiid  well-rounded  life.  He  wrouorht  on  the 
character  of  his  fellow-men  with  a  power,  so  gentle 
and  silent  that  not  even  those  who  felt  it  knew 
its  full  worth.  He  always  seemed  to  be  uncon- 
scious of  his  own  strength.  He  retired  from  the 
most  thrilling  performances  of  his  public  life 
seemingly  insensible  to  the  impression  he  had 
produced  on  others ;  and  that  too  while  they  were 


HIS   CHAKACTER.  329 

completely  overmastered  by  his  power.  If  he 
was  oblivious  of  his  strength  at  his  greatest 
moments,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  he  was  utterly 
forgetful  of  those  gracious  influences  which  went 
out  from  him  like  convection  currents  from  a 
heated  body.  He  was  not  a  popular  leader.  In 
public  enterprises,  he  rarely  took  a  conspicuous 
part. 

He  was  too  sensitive  to  endure  the  clash  of 
high  debate,  and  was  wanting  in  that  art  which 
is  so  often  found  among  men  ambitious  to  lead. 
His  strength  was  in  his  simplicity  and  honesty  of 
nature.  Like  a  holy  Magnet  he  attracted  to 
himself  the  best  elements  of  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  and  breathed  upon  them  his  own 
excellent  spirit.  Weak  men  drew  near  to  him 
because  they  instinctively  felt  that  he  could  love 
them.  He  had  so  much  of  the  Saviour's  kindli- 
ness of  temper  and  openness  of  manner  that  they 
believed  in  him  with  a  sort  of  transforming  faith. 
Bad  men  were  afraid  of  him,  they  knew  that  in 
him  thc}^  could  find  no  sympathy  with  their  evil 
ways.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  his  whole  life 
w^as  a  sermon — inspiring  the  good,  pouring  oil 
into  wounded  hearts,  and  giving  rebuke  to  sin. 

What  he  did  was  well  done.    He  never  slighted 
the  smallest  task.     Even  Avith    ambition   as  his 


330  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

incentive,  ho  always  struck  high,  but  with  the 
love  of  Christ  as  his  constraining  force,  he  always 
did  his  work  with  thorough  fidelity. 

He  made  the  most  of  himself,  and  did  his  best 
for  Christ.  In  that  small  circle  of  God's  faithful 
ones  he  had  a  place.  For  two  scores  of  years  he 
stood  at  his  post  with  quivering  nerve  and  weary 
limb,  waiting  for  his  Lord's  coming.  When  at  last 
the  King's  chariot  suddenly  appeared,  he  entered 
it  with  joy,  and  went  up  to  his  crown. 


LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD.  331 


SERMON    PREACHED    BEFORE    THE    BAPTIST 
GENERAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  VIRGINIA, 

At  Culpepee,  on  June  1,  1876. 


The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are  few ;  pray  ye, 
therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into 
his  vineyard. — 3Iatt.  ix.  37,  3S. 

Leaving  to  the  more  vigorous  and  the  more  adventurous, 
heights  inviting  rather  to  the  tourist  than  to  the  husbandman, 
I  limit  myself  to-day  to  the  humbler  field  of  Christian  thought, 
which  has  been  longest  the  scene  of  fertilizing  culture.  This 
field  still  promises  far  the  most  abundant  and  the  mo§t  useful 
products.  I  should,  in  vain,  solicit  the  aid  of  the  Graces  in 
my  unambitious  task.  Genius  could,  indeed,  win  them  from 
their  favorite  haunts  in  woods  and  mountains  to  attend  and 
smile  upon  the  useful.  For  Virgil,  after  sporting  with  them 
awhile  in  their  resorts,  persuaded  them  to  follow  him  to  the 
theatre  of  humble  toil,  and  to  bestow  on  the  tillage  of  lands, 
the  tendance  of  flocks,  and  the  rearing  of  bees,  an  elegance 
unrivalled  in  ancient  literature.  And  the  Christian  utilities 
have  often  furnished  them  not  only  an  infinitely  worthier,  but 
a  not  less  happy  employment.  Many  precious  Christian 
Georgics,  unsurpassed  models  of  reason  and  sentiment,  of 
diction  and  rhythm,  have  shown  every  excellence  of  composi- 
tion to  be  equally  at  home  amid  the  very  commonplaces  and 
simplicities  of  the  faith.     And  as  I  go  into  my  labor,  uncheered 


332  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

by  the  company  of  the  Graces,  I  cannot  allege,  in  apology  for 
their  uukinduess  to  the  workman,  that  they  disdain  the  work. 

Our  passage  follows  as  a  change — not  a  mixture — of  figures 
on  a  striking  delineation  by  the  great  painter  of  the  chosen 
race  as  a  flock  in  part  misled,  in  part  abandoned  by  incom- 
petent and  unfaithful  shepherds,  scattered  and  torn  and 
famishing.  This  vivid  and  tcjuching  picture  did  not  ade- 
quately represent  that  aspect  of  His  work  which  was  then 
most  deeply  moving  the  Saviour's  heart ;  its  pressing,  imperi- 
ous urgency.  The  hour  on  which  the  Son  of  God  had  been 
at  least  four  thousand  years  converging  all  the  arrangements 
of  Providence  was  at  hand.  The  zeal  of  the  Lord's  house, 
which  had  been  burning  in  the  bosom  of  the  Son  of  Mary 
with  steadily  increasing  glow  from  its  repression  or  deferment 
in  his  twelfth  year,  was  now  at  its  full  intensity.  His  Father's 
business  was  ripe,  ready,  clamorous.  And  the  richest  of  all 
imaginations,  which  certainly  manifested  its  superiority  over 
every  other  imagination  in  didactic  precision  even  more  than 
in  grandeur,  painted  it  as  a  white  harvest  waving  its  invitations 
to  the  sickle.  By  this  image,  the  Saviour,  it  would  seem,  is 
seeking  to  impress  upon  his  followers — aye,  and  upon  himself, 
immediate,  unremitting,  intense  labor  for  the  present  conver- 
sion of  eouls;  in  other  words,  the  main  features  of  the  "now" 
l)]an.  Harvest,  less  than  sowing,  or  tilling,  or  anything  else, 
admits  of  no  delay.  Harvest,  beyond  anything  else,  strains  the 
energies  of  the  laborer  to  highest  tension.  The  life-long  har- 
vester may  not  indeed  find  it  possible,  or  even  desirable,  to 
maintain  one  unvarying  pitch  of  utmost  effort.  But  how  high,  • 
my  soul,  is  the  tone  of  ordinary  endeavor  demanded  by  this 
figure  of  severe  and  unremitting  toil ! 

The  labor  must  be  strenuous,  for  the  work  is  of  waitiuir, 
crying,  readiness.  The  >\  orld  is  not  a  wilderness  to  be  cleared, 
not  a  fallow,  not  a  plantation,  but  a  harvest.     Every  human 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      333 

being  on  eartli,  of  rational  years,  is  to  be  reached  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  without  preliminary,  by  the  herald  of  the  cross. 
Every  human  heart  should  be  summoned  and  assaulted — not 
besieged — with  the  claims  of  the  gospel.  It  is  perilous  to 
abandon  the  child  to  habits  of  cold  indifference  or  active 
resistance  to  Christianity  till  the  schoolmaster  prepares  him 
for  an  intelligent  and  (vain  hope!)  dispassionate  investigation 
of  all  the  subtleties  of  the  Athanasian  creed.  It  is  cruel  to 
bid  the  frontier  village  wait  for  the  missionary  till  the  chaotic 
elements  of  its  society  stratify — till  law  and  order  spread  their 
shield  over  him — and  till  Satan  sweeps  and  garnishes  and 
fortifies.  It  is  folly  and  semi-infidelity  to  spend  your  strength 
in  building  up  for  the  savage  idolater  a  conscience  that  shall 
tremble  at  the  full  indictment  of  the  law,  and  an  intelligence 
that  shall  gi  apple  with  all  the  refinements  of  apologies  for  the 
faith  designed  for  polished  and  fastidious  infidels.  But  how 
much  worse  is  it  to  neglect  him  altogether  ?  It  is  as  well  a 
violation  of  sound  reason  as  a  recreancy  to  Christ  to  wait  for 
heathen  systems  to  die  out,  whereof  they  exhibit  no  very 
encouraging  symptoms,  that  you  may  embrace  their  period  of 
decay  as  a  favorable  time  for  the  introduction  of  the  gospel, 
when  it  is  evident  that  no  time  is  less  favorable  to  the  recep- 
tion of  the  truth  than  that  season  of  indifference  or  despair 
which  ensues  on  the  disintegration  of  a  national  religion. 
Preparatory  work  will,  in  the  providence  of  God,  be  done ; 
but  work  done  to-day,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  one  great  end, 
is  the  only  legitimate  preparation  for  to-morrow.  And  all 
waiting  to  be  pioneered  by  science,  or  towed  along  by  com- 
merce —all  pusillanimous  hovering  on  the  rear  of  conquest — 
all  pile-driving  to  lay  a  foundation  for  the  temple  of  God,  is 
exploded  by  the  single  word  harvest. 

Earnest,   immediate   work,   directly   expended   on   human 
souls,  is  the  only  suggestion  I  find  in  the  figure.     A  succession 


334  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BFvOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

of  sketches  from  the  hand  of  the  Great  Des'.Grner  prcgen'.s 
other  aspects  of  Christian  kibor,  Avhich  it  would  be  worse  than 
wasted  ingenuity  and  patience  to  force  upon  this  passage.  It 
may  not,  liowever,  be  superfluous  to  observe  that  the  Avork 
couched  in  this  imagery  exerts  far  more  of  cultural  and  dis- 
ci]>liuary  influence,  both  on  the  laborer  and  on  the  field,  than 
is  even  glanced  at  in  the  illustration  itself.  Labor  for  the 
immediate  conversion  of  souls  is  not  the  one  single  and  sufil- 
cient  gymnastic  of  the  Christian  worker,  but  it  is  the  exercise 
most  extensively  and  most  liighly  conducive  to  spiritual  devel- 
opment. The  gospel,  as  preached  to  sinners,  is  by  no  means 
the  exclusive  aliment  of  the  growing  saint,  but  it  is  a  diet  con- 
taining all  the  elements  of  life,  and,  as  is  witnessed  in  all 
genuine  revivals,  is  ever  appetizing  and  ever  nutritious.  It 
furnishes  society  no  forms  of  government,  but  materials  better 
than  all  forms,  at  home  with  any  form  which  does  not  repress 
it,  and  quietly  tending  to  crystallize  or  rather  to  grow  into  the 
best  forms.  Oh,  then,  with  the  sharpest  sickles  Ave  can  com- 
mand, but  with  no  needless  loitering  about  grindstones  or 
plying  of  paddles,  with  the  very  minimum  of  .shadings  and 
vacations  that  brain  and  muscle  will  tolerate,  with  no  aflTecta- 
tion  of  graceful  strokes — for  who  but  the  giants  can  be  grace- 
ful in  the  performance  of  plain,  hard  work? — let  us  move 
forward  in  the  field  Avhite  to  the  harvest. 

But  is  the  demand  for  evangelistic  effort  clamorous  now  as 
when  the  Saviour  uttered  the  words  of  our  passage?  The  field 
here  had  in  immediate  view  is  Palestine,  if  not  only  Galilee ; 
but  this  representation,  like  others  constructed  Avith  divine 
skill,  solicits  reference  to  a  Avider  sphere.  The  great  commis- 
sion expressly  points  to  the  Avider  sphere,  and  enjoins  the 
precise  kind  of  eff"ort  already  indicated.  The  demand  of  the 
larger  field  is  certainly  as  real,  it  is  probably  as  intense,  as 
that  of  the  section  to  Avhich  attention  is  here  directed.    Christ 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      335 

had  as  yet  no  official  laborers  to  aid  him,  the  statement  in  our 
passage  being  the  preamble  to  the  resohitiou  to  send  forth  the 
apostles.  But  the  whole  body  of  his  disciples  whom  he  called 
laborers,  and  called  to  be  laborers,  was  working  Avith  the  ac- 
tivity of  vital,  nascent  leaven  ;  or,  to  speak  in  accordance  with 
the  figure  here  commended  to  us,  every  disciple  was  busy  reap- 
hooking  the  corners  of  the  field,  or  gleaning  the  straggling 
heads  of  grain  which  escaped  the  majestic  sweep  of  the  Great 
Toiler's  scythe.  But  I  will  discount  all  labor  save  that  of 
Jesus  only.  If  he  had  been  the  only  preacher,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  evangelization  of  Galilee,  to  say  nothing  of  its 
immeasurable  superiority  in  kind,  has  in  extent  and  degree, 
ever  been  equalled.  Christ  found  his  nation  in  the  very  hush 
and  gaze  of  eagerest  expectancy.  He  was  interviewed  by 
numberless  caterers  for  the  public  hunger,  and  his  every  utter- 
ance was  seized  and  circulated  as  the  most  sensational  news. 
His  march  was  thronged,  blockaded,  waylaid  by  anxious  list- 
eners. His  teachings  were  so  strikingly  original,  so  wide  apart 
from  what  man  ever  spake,  so  sharply  and  distinctly  pic- 
turesque, so  stinging  to  the  conscience,  and  yet  so  grateful  to 
the  heart,  that  every  memory  became  their  record,  and  every 
hearer  could  render  them  with  the  accuracy  of  a  stenographic 
reporter.  Surely,  then,  we  are  entitled  to  appropriate  to  the 
present  field,  with  great  if  not  increased  emphasis,  the  language 
of  our  passage :  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  labor- 
ers are  few.  Pardon  the  offence  against  homiletic  symmetry 
in  this  too  protracted  explanation  and  vindication  of  the 
Master's  imagery,  and  follow  me  in  further  considering  the 
subject  which  he  brings  before  us  as  it  seems  naturally  to  dis- 
tribute itself  into  three  divisions,  viz. :  the  vast  dimensions  of 
the  harvest  field,  the  frightful  inadequacy  of  the  laboring 
force,  and  the  divinely  indicated  source  of  supply. 

I.  The  population  of  the  earth  is  not  in  itself  immeasurable. 


336  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

Fi;_aires  may  at  ?oine  day  state  it  with  approximate  accuracy. 
But  the  imagination  will  never  conceive  it  with  full  vividness, 
and  the  heart  will  never  adequately  respond  to  its  peril,  which 
will  continue  to  baHle  arithmetic.  Perhaps  the  field  rather 
gains  than  loses  in  impressivenet^s  on  imagination  and  heart 
by  its  stubborn  refusal  so  far  to  submit  to  accurate  measure- 
meut.  The  indefinitely  vast  is  universally  recognized  as 
the  chief  element  of  the  sublime.  The  grandest  master  of 
rhythmic  eloquence  would  have  disgusted  or  amused  where  he 
has  profoundly  awed,  if  he  had  subjected  the  vague  hugeness 
of  Satan's  figure  to  the  tailor's  tape,  or  had  substituted  for  a 
wilderness  of  burning  marl,  stretching  "nine  times  the  space 
that  parted  day  from  night  to  mortal  men,"  the  definite  reve- 
lations of  the  surveyor's  chain.  This  element  of  grandeur 
will,  however,  alwa3'S  remain  to  our  subject;  for  if  definite 
statement  ever  be  reached,  overwhelming  indefiniteness  in  its 
conception  will  still  continue.  Immensely  the  larger  part  of 
tlie  bewildering  array  will  be  totally  lost  to  heart  and  fanc)\ 
Commodore  Maury,  an  authority  pre-eminent  for  ability  and 
painstaking  accuracy,  states  the  population  of  the  globe  at 
1,350,000,000.  Johnson,  the  publisher  of  the  mammoth  atlas, 
who  certainly  had  access  to  able  and  careful  authorities, 
reduces  the  estimate  to — he  is  not  particular  to  say  what — 
between  1,000,000,000 — that  is  ten  thousand  times  ten  thou- 
sand ten  times  repeated — and  1,200,000,000.  Now  Maury, 
the  leader  of  mankind  in  his  department  of  science,  Avas  an 
humble  and  devout  Christian,  and  an  ardent  friend  of  missions. 
And  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that,  if  he  had  felt  compelled 
to  reduce  his  estimate  to  the  lower  number,  neither  his  prayers 
nor  his  pecuniary  contributions  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world  would  have  been  lessened.  And  that,  if  Johnson  was 
indifferent  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  mankind,  the  assurance 
that  he  ought  to  have  added  from  150,000,000  to  350,000,000 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      337 

to  his  enumeration  would  not  even  have  tended  to  change  his 
indifference  into  zeal.  Nothing  strikes  and  appals  me  more 
in  the  uncompassable  proportions  of  these  amazing  statistics 
than  that  the  population  of  twenty-five  New  Yorks  or  five 
hundred  Richmonds,  with  an  aggregate  death  rate  of  some 
ten  thousand  a  week,  is  summarily  dismissed,  as  if  its  reten- 
tion would  savor  of  finical  minuteness  amid  so  overwhelming 
round  numbers. 

I  call  these  numbers  overwhelming.  Ah !  the  misfortune 
from  the  necessity  of  their  nature  is,  that  they  so  little  stir  and 
overwhelm.  The  most  prodigious  of  them  are  pronounced 
with  the  tithe  of  a  single  breath,  and  contract  themselves  into . 
a  linear  inch  or  two  on  the  printed  page.  They  coalesce,  they 
run  into  each  other  like  the  segments  of  a  steamboat  table,  or 
like  the  sections  of  an  extensible  fishing  rod,  each  section 
except  the  first  and  last  nesting,  telescoping  into  another  of 
ten  times  its  magnitude.  To  fold  them  into  portable  shape, 
how  easy !  Yet  we  pass  over  them  in  their  condensed  form 
with  much  less  impression  than  we  would  dash  across  a  prairie 
on  a  lightning  train.  To  expand  them  for  full  impression  on 
sense  or  imagination  is  a  feat  that,  in  the  case  of  large  num- 
bers, presents  almost  or  altogether  insuperable  difficulty.  The 
grandeur  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition  is  not  half  so  difficult 
to  grasp.  If,  disregarding  the  clear,  varied  and  permanent 
impressions  which  weeks  of  earnest  scrutiny  alone  could  give, 
you  would  be  content  with  a  striking  idea  of  its  mere  vastness 
and  magnificence,  this  you  might  gain  in  a  comparatively 
short  time.  You  cannot  in  a  short  time  familiarize  your  con- 
ceptions and  your  emotions  with  one  billion  three  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  immortal  souls.  The  imagination  demands 
time,  and,  like  the  reason  of  the  philosopher,  dealing  with  the 
infinity  of  God,  the  more  it  is  exerted,  the  more  time  it  will 
demand.     The  school-boy  will  go  trippingly  through  his  tril- 


338  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

lions  and  quadrillions,  and  think  he  knows  all  about  them. 
But  an  acute  metapliysician  tells  us  that  five  is  as  large  a 
number  as  we  can  grasp  by  direct  intuition,  and  that  larger 
numbers  are  distinctly  conceived  by  piecing  together  parcels 
of  this  or  a  smaller  dimension.     And  an  able  writer  suggests 
that  the  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and   seventy-six  feet 
Avhich  measure  the  front  of  the  main  Centennial  building,  can 
only  be  realized  by  comparing  them  with  some  nearly  equal 
known  space,  or  marking  them  on  the  ground      If  you  would 
realize  our  work-field,  since  you  cannot  fix  it  before  you  on 
actual  vision,  as  Christ  did   the  scattered  sheep  of  bis  flock» 
you  must   laboriously,  and,  with    meagre  success,  spread  it 
before  your  imaginations.     Number,  l)y  long  habit,  is  most 
easily  conceived  in  association  with  the  measures  of  space. 
Then  imagine  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  brought  together. 
Twelve  hundred  times  the  area  of  the  Centennial  grounds, 
four  times  the  extent  of  the  original  District  of  Columbia, 
were  every  square  inch  of  it  available,  would  afford  them  only 
scant  and  thronged  standing  room.     Fancy  them — delightful 
dream  ! — all  assembled  to  hear  the  word  of  God.    The  largest 
county  in   your  State  would  scarcely  contain   the  houses  in 
which  more  than  one  million  of  preachers  should  address  each 
more  than  one  thousand  hearers  of  age  to  attend  to  the  gospel. 
StiU  these  millions  are  running  into  each  other,  and  the  mind 
glides  over  them  without  adhesion  with  far  more  than  the 
fiicility  with  which  the  cheated  eye  sweeps  across  the  deceptive 
face  of  unbroken  w'aters.    Yet  they  exhibit  every  diversity  to 
awaken  our  interest  and  assist  our  calculations.    God  marshals 
them   before  us  clothed   in  a  fadeless  livery,  recognized  at  a 
glance  by  all  who  are  not  perversely  color-blind.     And  they, 
themselves,  indefinitely  variegate  the  procession  by  their  own 
peculiar  titles  to  recognition  in  an  endless  difference  of  laws 
and  governments,  of  languages,  histories  and  traditions,  of 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      339 

religions  and  ceremonies,  of  creeds  and  opinions,  of  manners 
and  customs,  of  diet  and  dress.  Wheel  the  grand  muster  of 
nations  through  every  evolution  that  fancy  can  suggest,  the 
scene  will  grow  before  you.  But  especially  study  the  attitude 
of  the  world  to  enlightenment  and  Christianity.  Assemble 
the  nations,  diversified  as  before,  and  arrange  them  in  ascend- 
ing ranks  according  to  civilization.  Place  lowest  eighty  mil- 
lions of  degraded  savages,  scarcely  above  the  beasts  and  reptiles 
they  worship.  Place  next  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions 
of  fierce  and  godless  nomads  madly  surging  agaiust  each  other, 
and  against  civilization,  in  deadly  struggle  for  land  and  pas- 
turage. Put  still  higher  some  eight  hundred  millions  of  half- 
civilized  human  beings,  most  of  them  in  abjectest  poverty  and 
misery,  groaning  under  iron  despotisms  of  mind  and  body 
which  have  been  growing  stronger  and  harsher  for  from 
twenty  to  forty  centuries.  Surmount  the  array  with  civilized 
men.  Now  a  division  of  most  painful  interest  is  to  be  made. 
A  line,  inclusive  of  nearly  all  the  highest  level,  exclusive  of 
nearly  all  the  lowest,  but  jag'ged  and  eccentric  as  the  light- 
ning's path,  shall  run  through  the  scene,  and  separate  what, 
with  utmost  license  of  language  and  in  the  very  extravagance 
of  charity,  we  call  Christian  nations  from  unvaried  and  unmit- 
igated heathendom.  This  line  reveals  a  proportion  startling 
to  the  extent  of  dismay.  Three-fourths  of  the  human  family 
are  still,  in  this  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  utter 
and  ruinous  ignorance  of  the  saving  truth  ! 

With  much  of  sorrow  and  with  something,  I  trust,  of 
remorse  for  our  former  "inhumanity  to  man"  in  his  greatest 
need,  we  dismiss  our  imaginary  assembly,  and  remand  to  their 
respective  positions  on  the  earth's  surface  the  millions,  most  of 
them  starving  for  lack  of  the  bread  of  life.  Now  geographical 
magnitudes  scarcely  less  prodigious,  and  much  more  appalling, 
confront  us.   Weeks  and  months  of  difficult  and  often  perilous 


340  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

journey  await  us  as  we  set  out  in  any  direction  from  our  centre 
in  search  of  the  more  distant  and  the  more  hopeless.  And 
then  for  months  spent  in  reaching  their  abodes,  we  have  years 
to  spend  in  reaching  the  understandings,  the  consciences  and 
the  hearts  of  even  a  few.  Ah !  I  have  not  moved  you  with 
numbex-s.  I  was  fearing  it.  I  might  have  known  it.  The 
four  hundred  millions  of  China,  persistently  and  skilfully 
paraded  in  their  tear-compelling  plight  before  Christendom, 
have  been  scarcely  equal  contestants  for  sympathy  and  aid 
with  the  few  thousands  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  And  this 
surely  has  not  been  because  numbering  more,  the  Chinese 
have,  in  the  scales  of  spiritual  worth  and  promise,  weighed  less. 
Despairing  of  the  attempt  to  expand  reason  and  fancy  and 
heart  to  the  dimensions  of  these  wide-stretching  and  bewilder- 
ing numerals,  let  us  try  another  course.  Let  us  stand  face  to 
face  with  a  single  one  of  their  constituent  units.  And  though 
it  presents  itself  cased  in  rags,  crushed  and  dwarfed  under 
despotism,  and  all  crimsoned  with  sin,  we  feel  irresistibly 
impelled  to  uncover  before  it.  A  soul!  It  is  the  image, 
though  the  fearfully  marred  and  distorted  image  of  God.  A 
soul !  It  is  the  mirror,  if  not  indeed  the  constituent  of  all 
other  grandeurs ;  and,  save  God,  grander  than  all  it  mirroi-s. 
It  is  varied  and  wide  as  the  earth,  and  deep  as  the  unfathom- 
able sea.  The  certain  possessor  of  immortality,  it  is  the  prob- 
able heir  of  a  constantly  and  eternally  accelerating  growth. 
And,  oh,  deepest  dread !  oh,  highest  hope !  It  shall  continue 
forever  to  sting  itself  into  racking  spasms  of  keenest  remorse, 
or  to  thrill  under  the  ever-brightening  vision  of  God.  The 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  when  first  the  material  universe, 
touched  into  harmony  by  its  great  Creator,  poured  upon  their 
ears  its  full-voiced  anthem.  With  still  higher  rapture  do  they 
shake  the  upper  welkin  when  one  sinner  repenteth.  But  only 
the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls,  the  infinitely  loving 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      341 

Father  of  spirits,  feels  an  adequate  joy  when  a  single  dead 
soul  is  made  alive  and  a  single  lost  soul  is  found. 

From  this  point  of  view,  my  brethren,  look  out  on  your 
work,  so  dizzying  in  the  multitude,  so  staggering  in  the  magni- 
tude of  its  objects.  And  remember  that  while  you  look,  death 
is  reaping  and  hell  is  garnering.  Men  are  lost,  and  lost  to 
deep  and  eternal  perdition,  without  the  gospel.  Banish  from 
your  minds  that  fond  but  wretched  delusion,  so  paralyzing  to 
the  zeal  of  the  preacher,  so  drugged  with  false  and  fatal  secu- 
rity to  the  hearer,  that  man  is  saved  by  anything  which  he 
really  believes.  Men  may  worship  after  the  manner  which 
some  call  honesty  and  sincerity ;  their  Avay  may  seem  to  them 
right ;  but  unless  it  be  God's  chosen  way,  their  end  is  death, 
though  they  be  as  sincere  as  the  chief  of  sinners  when  he  per- 
secuted the  church  of  Christ.  Hero -worshippers  may  laud 
and  magnify  the  brilliant  spectacle  of  conspicuous  zeal,  whether 
it  be  salutary  or  destructive,  as  boys  gaze  with  delighted  won- 
der on  a  mighty  conflagration,  whether  it  burns  out  a  jungle 
or  burns  down  a  city ;  but  no  zeal  shall  win  the  approval  of 
the  universal  Judge,  except  zeal  according  to  the  knowledge 
of  saving  truth.  The  Saviour  did  indeed  say  to  a  certain 
individual,  "According  to  thy  faith,  so  be  it  unto  thee."  But 
that  faith  was  perfectly  right  in  object,  and  astonishing  even 
to  himself  in  degree.  Latitudinarians  strangely  and  to  their 
own  hurt  Avrest  this  Scripture,  when  they  pervert  it  into  a 
proposition  which  stultifies  the  Redeemer's  purpose  of  living 
and  dying  to  be  the  object  of  a  fiiith  unto  salvation. 

Hesitate  not,  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty  to  Christ,  to 
give  the  world  that  without  which  there  is  no  salvation,  from 
fear  of  a  possible  aggravation  of  its  guilt.  In  preaching  the 
gospel  we  do  not  impose,  we  only  present  a  great  and  perilous 
responsibility.  In  withholding  it,  we  clearly  assume  responsi- 
bility for  the  blood  of  souls.     How  strange  that  men,  who 


342  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BKOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

know  that  every  new  opportunity  and  blessing  is  burdened 
with  new  obligations,  should  shrink  from  proffering  the  greatest 
good,  lest  it  be  possibly  converted  into  a  curse.  But  we  can- 
not, in  obedience  to  a  craven  and  cruel  fear,  which  would 
brand  every  blessing  as  a  snare,  consent  that  our  children  and 
our  country  shall  sink  into  savagery  ;  and  we  will  not,  in  dis- 
obedience to  the  gracious  Master,  deny  to  the  perishing  mil- 
lions of  earth  the  indispensable  cup  of  salvation  lest  they 
madly  dash  it  from  their  lips. 

II.  I  pass  to  the  second  division— the  inadequacy  of  the 
supply  of  gospel  laborers.  This  may  be  the  more  briefly  dis- 
patched as  having  been  largely  implied  in  the  preceding  view. 
If  we  discount  from  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
nominal  Christians  the  millions  of  the  superstitious  who  have 
no  knowledge  of  salvation,  the  infidels  who  have  no  belief  in 
it,  the  grossly  criminal  and  vicious  who  have  no  hope  of  it, 
the  tens  of  millions  of  the  frivolous  and  worldly  who  have  no 
care  for  it,  the  array  would  shrink  like  Gideon's  army  when 
sifted  by  the  Almighty.  There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  saying 
the  number  of  earnest  Christian  workers,  viewed  in  comparison 
with  the  immense  field,  before  which  our  imaginations  and 
hearts  have  just  now  sunk  prostrate  and  discouraged,  is  alarm- 
ingly small ;  yea,  but  for  the  promise  of  the  ever-continued 
support  of  Him  in  whose  might  one  shall  chase  a  thousand,  it 
would  be  ludicrou.sly  inadequate. 

We  want  earnest  preachers  of  the  gospel,  wholly  devoted 
to  their  work — and  w^e  want  them  in  multitudes — men  whose 
enthusiasm  for  their  mission,  and  whose  facility  in  their  task, 
shall  make  preaching  a  luxury — men  to  whom,  in  the  seasons 
and  aspects  of  labor  which  cannot  be  a  delight,  prenching 
shall  be  a  controlling  duty — men  whose  thorough  equipment 
for  their  sacred  office  shall,  with  the  blessing  of  heaven,  make 
preaching  a  grand  success — men   who,  laboring  exclusively 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.       343 

for  the  spiritual  good  of  their  race,  shall  produce  a  larger  and 
better  effect  on  the  harmony,  the  purity,  the  culture,  and, 
finally,  the  material  interests  of  society,  than  any  other  class 
of  agents.  Such  men  will,  in  their  official  relations,  ahjure 
politics,  only  demanding  of  statesmen,  as  our  Baptist  fathers 
did,  full  liberty  of  conscience  for  all.  Thank  God,  I  stand 
to-day  freely  enlarged  on  the  very  site  of  the  Culpeper  prison, 
from  which,  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  Ireland, 
looking  out  on  the  blue  hills  to  the  north  and  the  wilderness 
on  the  south,  put  up  this  only  petition  to  civil  government : 

"Ou  the  mountains  LET  me  labor. 
In  the  desert  LET  me  tell 
How  He  died,  the  matchless  Saviour, 
To  redeem  the  world  from  hell." 

I  repeat,  we  need  a  great  increase  of  ministers,  even  for  this 
country  and  this  State.  We  do  indeed  want  a  great  increase 
of  the  ability  and  zeal  of  the  Christian  ministry  of  our  coun- 
try— confessedly  respectable  as  that  ministry  now  is.  But  we 
should  still  greatly  need  more  preachers.  We  do  not  properly 
sustain  those  we  have.  But  preaching  must  stimulate  to  the 
support  of  the  present  ministry,  and  to  a  demand  for  an  in- 
creased ministerial  force.  In  this  sense,  John  Kerr's  remark 
is  certainly  true,  that  the  best  preparation  for  preaching  is 
preaching.  I  cannot  enlarge  on  this  point.  I  say,  on  thorough 
conviction  and  with  a  full  heart,  that  there  is  great  lack  of 
the  preached  word  in  our  beloved  Commonwealth  ;  that  I  do 
know  our  monthly  preaching  can  never  fully  indoctrinate  our 
people;  and  that,  in  a  few  miles  of  our  country  churches, 
are  neighborhoods  deplorably  in  want  of  the  gospel. 

Preaching  is  teaching.  If  we  would  teach,  we  must  have 
smaller  classes  of  pupils,  and  get  into  closer,  freer,  more  fre- 
quent contact  with  them.  The  propagation  of  the  gospel  is, 
in  some  respects,  like  the  propagation  of  light  by  radiation. 


344  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BIIOAVN,  DD.  LLD. 

It  is  more  like  the  diffusion  of  heat  by  convections — the 
spreading  of  fermentation  by  contact. 

We  want  not  hxboring  preachers  alone.  Christ  demands 
the  co-operation  of  the  whole  Christian  body.  His  few  labor- 
ers at  the  date  of  the  pronunciation  of  our  passage  were  all 
unofficial  men  and  women.  Whatever  may  be  the  doubt  con- 
cerning an  apostolic  succession,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  a 
continuity  of  the  laity,  as  it  is  called,  or  an  unbroken  succes- 
sion of  believing  men  and  women.  If  there  is  a  controversy 
about  rank  and  precedence  between  this  continuous  body  and 
lordly  prelates,  the  laity  may,  without  breach  of  modesty, 
allege,  "Before  apostles  were  we  are!"  Preceding  the  apostles 
in  itinerant  labors  of  evangelization  on  the  first  persecution — 
summoning  Peter  before  their  tribunal  to  render  account  of 
the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles — concurring 
with  the  apostles  in  what  is  falsely  called  the  first  general 
council  at  Jerusalem,  they  may  claim  that  it  is  now  no  humil- 
iation to  the  tallest  of  the  clergy  to  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the 
people.  The  great  teaching  force  of  this  body,  when  earnestly 
and  consciously  exerted,  and  the  greater  unconscious  influence 
of  their  active  piety  in  their  churches  and  in  their  business, 
are  simply  incalculable.  I  have  already  deplored  the  com- 
parative inefficacy  of  attacks  on  sin  at  long  range.  The 
highest  effect  results  from  the  grapple  of  man  with  man.  And 
just  here  is  the  advantage  and  the  superiority  of  the  people 
with  what  may  be  disparagingly  called  their  small  arms.  The 
world  will  not  be  converted  till  there  is  a  great  increase  of 
this  laboring  force  in  all  lauds.  But  what  crying  need  of 
preachers  before  this  high  vantage  ground  shall  be  reached  ? 

I  may  select  from  the  bewildering  and  saddening  number  of 
l)laces  where  spiritual  laborers  are  deplorably  scarce,  a  few 
which  we  are  urged  to  supply  by  the  highest  and  dearest 
immediate  interests,  or  by  solemn  assumption  and  committal. 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      345 

The  Chinese  are  streaming  into  the  Western  and  South-western 
portions  of  our  country  in  currents  of  annually  increasing 
volume.  Laborers  not  a  few  are  needed  to  convert  these  por- 
tentous barbaric  waves  into  an  overflow,  freighted  with  spiritual 
fertility.  Sanctified  patriotism  would  further  counsel  the 
copious  impregnation  of  the  foreign  source  of  so  perilous  a 
deluge  with  the  salt  of  truest  conservatism.  Here  our  most 
precious  secular  interests  unite  with  distinct  committal  and 
solemn  pledge  to  demand  a  large  re-enforcement  of  the  Chinese 
mission,  at  present  so  disproportionate  to  the  work  as  to  move 
the  heathen  to  derision,  and  Christendom  to  humiliation  and 
mourning.  Within  our  midst  are  millions  of  half-civilized 
Africans.  Shall  we  pause  till  we  decide  whether  jSTorthern  or 
Southern  Christians  are  most  able  or  most  bound  to  minister 
to  their  spiritual  needs,  and  stand  upon  the  order  of  our  going 
to  them,  till  a  ground-swell  of  ignorance,  sensuality,  agrarian- 
ism,  superstition  and  fanaticism  shall  wreck  our  entire  Christian 
civilization  ?  Interest  and  duty  combine  to  urge  the  sending 
of  laborers  to  the  children  of  Africa  in  this  country.  Duty, 
philanthropy,  and  in  the  case  of  many  of  us,  solemn  engage- 
ment, concur  to  demand  the  support  and  re- enforcement  of 
David  and  others  on  the  continent  of  Africa  for  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  to  a  people  that,  notwithstanding  their  deep 
degradation,  receive  it  with  more  readiness  than  any  other 
people  under  heaven.  The  laborers  are  very  few  who  are 
prepared  to  meet  the  hordes  of  Catholics  that  are  coming  to 
this  country,  and  in  yearly  increasing  numbers  to  this  State. 
Patriotism  appeals  to  us  here  again.  But  when  we  look 
towards  Italy,  how  many  considerations  impel  us  to  heed  its 
cry  for  the  pure  gospel.  More  than  half  of  the  law  that  con- 
trols us,  the  history  that  guides  us,  the  literature  that  is  our 
delight  and  our  unapproached  model,  is  derived  from  that 
classic  land.     And  the  Italians  of  to-day  are  in  their  possibil- 


346  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

itios  greater  than  the  Romans  when  they  marched  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  world.  Tlie  Italians,  ■with  their  infusion  of  Gothic 
blood,  are  in  endowments  ^vhat  the  Greeks  were  in  the  })ast. 
They  are  a  ])e()]ile  beyond  all  others  beautifvil  in  person  and 
versatile  in  genius ;  a  people  beggared  by  the  most  splendid 
church  establishment  of  the  world ;  a  i)eople  many  of  whom 
are  maddened  into  assassination  and  brigandage  by  the  most 
grinding  of  despotisms;  a  peojile  whose  proverbial  fraud  and 
dissimulation  are  not  excused  certainly,  but  greatly  palliated, 
by  a  telegraphic  espionage,  whose  wires  all  converge  in  the 
Vatican,  and  by  the  auscultation  of  the  secret  throbbings  of 
their  hearts  in  the  confessional.  Among  this  people  of  noblest 
gifts  and  possibilities  is  the  centre  of  the  great  ramifying  can- 
cer on  the  body  of  Christianity.  How  few  are  engaged  in  its 
extirpation  !  Here  is  the  finest  strategic  point  of  so-called 
Chi'istendom,  the  citadel  of  the  Papacy.  AVith  what  interest 
do  we  watch  the  little  forlorn  hope  as  with  sublime  daring 
they  thunder  their  defiance  at  its  gates!  Ah,  let  us  cultivate 
this  interest.  Few  of  us,  my  brethren,  are  susceptible  of  being 
greatly  stirred  by  a  direct  contemplation  of  the  vastly  extended 
harvest  field.  We  are  more  likely  to  catch  the  contagion  of 
zeal  from  sympathy  with  those  loftier  spirits  that  see,  and  those 
deeper  and  tenderer  natures  that  feel,  the  necessities  of  man. 
Most  of  us  who  have  heard  that  exquisitely  graceful  tribute 
to  Dr.  Tupper's  recent  articles  on  missions,  but  not  more 
graceful  than  just,  have  felt  first  a  greater  sympathy  with  the 
workers,  and  then  a  deejjcr  interest  in  the  work.  I  confess, 
my  interest  in  the  Chinese  has  been  greatly  increased  since 
a  former  pupil  of  mine,  the  heroic,  the  enthusiastic  Lottie 
!Moon,  has  consecrated  her  pre-eminent  aptitude  for  the  lan- 
guages to  the  blessed  office  of  announcing  to  the  sorrowing 
Mar}s  and  Marthas  of  China,  the  Master  who  is  come  and 
calleth  for  them.     And  my  high  and  warm  personal  regard 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      347 

for  that  noble  type  of  the  Christian  man,  Geo.  B.  Taylor,  -who 
has  left  his  Virginia  brethren  scarcely  his  equal  in  talents  and 
acquirements,  in  the  vigor,  the  accuracy  and  the  facility  of 
his  pen,  in  the  earnestness  of  his  piety,  and  the  depth  of  his 
devotion  to  friends,  gives  me  higher  concern  for  that  grand 
object  which  appears  above  every  other  to  concern  him.  We 
love  heaven  itself  better,  because  friends  and  kindred  are 
triumphant  there.  Shall  we  not  love  the  mission  fields  more 
because  there  our  friends  are  earning  their  croAvus  ?  And 
shall  we  not,  must  we  not,  if  we  are  real  Christians,  rise  up  to 
sympathy  with  Christ  who  tasted  death  for  every  man,  and 
descend  with  Him  to  sympathy  for  every  son  of  Adam  for 
whom  He  died  ? 

III.  Whence  must  come  the  supply  of  the  fearful  destitu- 
tion of  laborers  in  the  world-wide  harvest  field  ?  It  is  eas-y  to 
delude  ourselves  into  reliance  on  the  great  economic  principle 
of  the  spontaneous  tendency  to  the  equation  of  supply  and 
demand.  The  dominion  of  this  principle  is  limited  to  the 
spheres  of  imperious  material  needs,  or  active  natural  and 
cultured  desires.  But  even  in  these  spheres,  the  political 
economist  will  tell  us  that  not  simple  desire,  but  ability  to  pay 
for  its  object,  constitutes  real  and  effective  demand.  Where 
scarcity  of  bread  prevails,  and  money  (or  its  equivalent)  is  at 
command,  price  ascends  and  waves  its  invitation  to  a  wider 
circle  of  supply ;  where  famine  rages,  the  effective  demand 
still  existing,  price  mounts  by  long  and  rapid  strides  to  the 
mast-head,  and  unfurls  the  flag  of  distress  to  a  still  more 
distant  horizon.  Supply  moves  to  the  scene  of  remote  anxietv 
or  urgent  suffering  in  gentler  undulations,  or  in  higher  climbing 
billows,  according  to  the  violence  of  the  disturbing  causes,  and 
then  ebbs  away  after  more  than  meeting  the  demand.  Ah, 
me !  little  or  nothing  of  this  takes  place  in  regard  to  man's 
great   intellectual   and   spiritual  wants.      Call  man,  if  you 


348  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BilOWN,  DD.  LLD. 

pleiOse,  an  iuciiiisitivc  being.  In  his  deepest  ignorance  his 
quest  of  knowleilge  is  capricious,  irregular,  almost  profitless. 
The  ignorant  masses  Avill  not  be  enlightened  till  truth  is 
gently  urged  upon  their  feeble  and  blinking  vision,  by  a 
benevolence  which  is  above  them,  and  which  graciously  con- 
descends to  them.  Man,  if  you  please,  is  a  religious  animal. 
But  he  is  a  sinful  being,  and  will  not  come  to  the  light  where 
it  shines  upon  him,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved.  In  the 
case  of  the  heathen,  it  must  be  manifested  to  them  -who  seek 
it  not.  Many  of  the  heathen  Indians  on  our  Western  frontier, 
and  all  the  ruling  elements  in  Japan,  seek  after  our  secular 
knowledge.     They  nauseate  our  religion,  its  true  support. 

Some  iulluences  auxiliary  to  direct  effort  for  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge  and  home  evangelization.  A  man  cannot  be  a 
Christian  at  all  without  exerting  some  unconscious,  uninten- 
tional Christian  influence  on  the  unconverted  around  him. 
Christians  of  a  low  type  of  Christianity,  and  even  infidels,  will 
somewhat  help  to  sustain  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  their 
own  country,  because  they  believe  it  will  conduce  to  their 
own  prosperity  in  advancing  the  general  good,  because  their 
persons  and  property  will  be  safer,  and  their  taxation  for  the 
repression  of  crime  and  the  relief  of  beggary  will  be  lightened. 

But  these  aids  will  not  help  in  foreign  evangelization. 
Foreign  missions,  in  their  success,  do  powerfully  and  favorably 
react  on  the  material  prosperity  of  Christian  nations.  But 
the  planter,  the  manufacturer  and  the  merchant,  will  not 
invest  with  reference  to  gains  apparently  so  remote.  Their 
plan,  whatever  ours  may  be,  is  emphatically  the  "now"  plan. 
The  chief  reliance  everywhere,  the  sole  reliance  for  most  of 
the  field,  is  the  highest  and  purest  Christian  benevolence, 
kindled  first  from  heaven,  and  reinforced  continually  in 
answer  to  earnest  prayer.  The  salvation  of  the  world  comes 
not  from  the  universal  spread  of  primary  education.     I  hail 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      349 

with  delight  the  increase  of  secular  knowledge.  It  is  a  possi- 
bility, yet  a  perilous  possibility  of  good.  It  is  a  great  instru- 
ment which  we  must  hasten  to  utilize  for  good,  and  to  save 
from  perversion.  General  education  is  no  substitute  for  the 
gospel.  If  we  would  preserve  the  healthy  balance  of  all  the 
powers  of  a  people,  the  more  education  we  have,  the  more  and 
not  the  less  we  need  the  earnest,  effective  and  deeply  spiritual 
Sabbath-school,  pulpit  and  press.  Shall  we  look  to  the  higher 
education?  It  is  invaluable  for  the  full  exposition  of  divine 
truth,  and  for  the  thorough  intelligence  of  that  exposition. 
But  the  higher  education  more  needs  Christianity  than  Chris- 
tianity needs  it.  The  ancient  classical  languages  with  all  their 
freightage  of  history,  philosophy  and  poetry,  constituting 
them  the  noblest  instruments  of  culture,  and  the  great  bulwark 
of  consecration,  would,  probably,  be  abandoned  to  utter  neglect 
but  for  the  interest  which  the  higher  Christian  thinkers  take 
in  them.  The  relation  of  Christianity  to  our  higher  culture  is 
even  still  more  direct.  The  main  current  of  modern  scepticism 
is  materialistic  to  the  denial  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
Let  it  gain  ascendency  in  the  higher  departments  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  human  mind,  and  its  sublime  philosophy,  become 
a  matter  of  anatomy  and  chemistry.  The  soul  will  grow  to 
be  too  mean  a  thing  for  severe  and  serious  discipline ;  and 
science,  for  a  while,  patronized  as  an  engineer  for  the  con- 
struction of  roads  and  machines,  will  finally  die  of  starvation 
in  the  house  of  its  false  friends.  The  higher  education,  then, 
far  from  dispensing  with  Christian  laborers,  is  one  of  the  many 
applicants  for  their  increase  in  number  and  effectiveness. 
Theological  schools  will  do  much  to  supply  the  demand  for 
laborers.  But  they  need  the  highest  order  of  God-given 
material  on  which  to  operate.  Then,  brethren,  we  are  shut 
up  to  prayer  as  our  only  recourse.  The  most  candid  of  the 
rejecters  of  revelation  tell  us,  on  purely  rational  grounds,  that 


350  LIFE  OF  A.  B.  BROWN,  DD.  LLD. 

prayer  is  the  irrepressible  instinct,  the  inevitable  necessity  of 
a  soul,  awake  to  a  great  need,  and  alive  to  the  existence  of  an 
infinitely  wise  and  loving  personal  God.  "VVe  have  reached  a 
point  where  ])hil()sophy  recognizes  the  necessity,  and  revela- 
tion imposes  the  duty  of  prayer.  Andrew  Fuller  used  to  say — 
perhaps,  -with  an  excess  of  self-depreciation — that  he  had  little 
religion  or  devoutness  that  was  not  extorted  by  distress. 
Doubtless,  he  had  more  of  them  in  that  state.  Thank  God, 
that  Andrew  Fuller  and  C'arcy  and  their  brethren,  became 
sorely  distressed  about  India,  and  cried  to  the  Lord  in  its 
behalf.  Great  blessings  seem  to  have  been  bestowed  in 
answer  to  those  prayers.  Why  should  we  doubt  that  He  will 
answer  prayer  ?  •  To  say  that  He  will  not  be  affected  by  any- 
thing we  do,  is  to  say  that  He  will  neither  reward  nor  punish 
human  conduct.  If  it  must  be  admitted  that  He  regards 
anything  of  our  state,  what  will  He  be  so  likely  to  regard  as 
the  heart's  desire  of  His  children  ?  Surely,  every  right  prayer 
is  the  reflection  of  the  S})irit  from  the  human  soul.  Nature 
mirrors  back  on  God  His  image ;  devout  S2:)irits  echo  back 
His  voice.  But  they  have  never  sent  back  the  full  response. 
It  is  just  here  that  advocates  of  the  simple  passivity  of  the 
human  soul  under  divine  influence  err  in  theory,  and  all  the 
Christian  world  has  erred  in  practice.  Christian  hearts  have 
not  fully  answered  the  divine  touch,  else  the  God  who  has 
promised  to  hear  prayer  would  long  since  have  sent  forth  the 
needed  supply.  He  has  foreknown  from  eternity  our  prayers, 
and  has  made  arrangements,  and  pledge  to  answer  every  right 
and  enjoyed  prayer,  without  the  slightest  swerving  of  the  laws, 
either  of  spirit  or  of  matter. 

I  conclude  with  two  assumptions  implied  in  our  prayer : 
1st.  The  Lord's  harvest  is  our  field,  else  to  ask  for  laborers 
Avould  be  an  impertinence.     The  field  is  doubly  ours.     All 
hnmnn  beiufrs  are  our  brethren.    The  unity  of  the  human  race 


SERMON  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL  ASSOCIATION.      351 

wliich  is  abundantly  established  by  sober  and  impartial 
science,  is  not,  indeed,  the  foundation,  but  the  necessary  con- 
dition of  the  whole  remedial  scheme.  Then  the  work  has  been 
committed  to  us.  Faith  is  to  come  by  hearing  the  word  of 
God  from  the  lips  of  men. 

2d.  We  undertake  to  act  in  the  line  of  our  petitions. 
Prayer  is  desire  intensified  by  its  entertainment  and  expres- 
sion. To  pray,  and  not  to  act  in  the  direction  of  our  prayers, 
would  be,  if  it  were  not  an  impossibility,  an  absurdity  and 
inconsistency.  If  we  pray  we  must  act  in  response  to  our 
prayers.  Infidelity  will  scoffingly  say,  that  this  will  be  the 
only  answer  they  will  receive,  just  as  it  mocks  at  trusting  in 
God  on  the  day  of  battle,  and  believes  only  in  keeping  the 
powder  dry ;  we  have  a  totally  different  conviction.  God 
moves ;  prayer  intensifies  and  insures  action.  Pray,  believing 
that  prayer  acts  on  God,  as  well  as  reacts  on  yourselves. 
When  there  shall  be  much  of  this  kind  of  prayer,  the  king- 
dom of  God  shall  come — "  His  v^'ill  be  done  on  earth  as  in 
heaven." 


THE    END. 


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